Hiei of the Thousand Eyes
by InTheArmsofaTheif
Summary: [On Hiatus until ITWOWF rewrite is finished] Set thirteen years after the first Makai tournament. Hiei has grown restless. Yusuke is forced to open his eyes to the realities of being a half demon. The others have started families. And a curious young woman on the hunt for shards of a mysterious artifact keeps accidentally slipping into demon world, much to Hiei's great annoyance.
1. Homecoming

_Hiei of the Thousand Eyes  
_

Chapter One: Homecoming

* * *

Hiei planted his feet on the floor. On the bed behind him Mukuro lay asleep and sated. He fixed his eyes over his shoulders to take in her relaxed form for just a moment before standing and throwing on his clothes. She would forgive him for not waking her. He had border patrol to attend to.

It was a tedious task, one that he hated for its monotony. But if it was the tithe he gave for the excitement and rush of the Makai Tournament every three years, he would pay it. With his world in less chaos, it also led to less interesting moments. Not to say the Makai wasn't still a terribly dangerous place, but he was one of the strongest demons in the realm now, as proven by his ranking in the tournaments. There was less challenge to his life. It almost made him wish for the days he was weaker. Although he did love his status among the demons now.

Hiei gave Mukuro one last glance before leaving their bedchamber.

He had hoped their partnership would garner more… just more. He helped free her from her past, and in doing so trapped himself in her future. The start of their relationship was tumultuous and heated. He never quite understood why she chose to save him, or train him, other than for his potential to be stronger than her then second. He'll never know why exactly. As forthcoming as she had been about so many horrors of her life, Mukuro had never divulged what made her choose him and never would. Still, the fiery, unbridled explosion of their first days together only led to difficulties when the pace began to slow. They had no more personal demons to fight. They had each other, instead, to fight for. But in truth they had only known each other for a year. Half that time outside of each other's company. Now, fifteen years past the first Makai tournament, both of them were feeling the strain of staying with someone out of promise and nothing more.

Border patrol was, at best, boring. Still, it was always his assignment after the tournament. Both for his connection with Mukuro, who's legion took up the arduous task due to their nomadic nature, and for his unique ability to wipe the memories of the foolish humans who managed to find their way through the gap in space. He patrolled some on his own, but mostly Hiei waited for others to call him. It was torturous.

His comm buzzed. They had started adapting more human technologies, which truth be told Hiei was beginning to enjoy. He didn't have to keep the lowly demons running through his head all day.

"We've got that girl again," the voice on the other end said.

Hiei rolled his eyes. This girl. She was becoming the bane of his existence. "Where are you this time?"

Whatever demon was speaking listed his coordinates and Hiei was off in a flash. It took him under a minute to reach them.

The girl looked full grown, but still young. Hiei never did quite understand human aging. Her hair was pulled up into a messy knot at the top of her head this time, a few strands of her long dark curls framing her face. Her wide, brown eyes took in everything with caution and confusion. She seemed less afraid than the first few times they found her. Whether it was because the demon who found her looked more human than the previous ones, or for no reason at all, Hiei didn't know or care.

The only distinguishing mark that let him and any of the other demons realize that this is the same girl was the elaborate coloring that twisted around her left arm like flowers and dragons.

Her eyes widened even further when they spotted Hiei.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "Where am I? Where have you taken me?"

Hiei sighed, his Jagan already pulsing open. "Just go to sleep," he told her. The girl fell limp in the demon's arms and was carried away.

That was the twelfth time that same human found her way into demon world. Even without the barrier, demons still had to know how to travel between worlds. There were still pockets that demon or human could, in theory, fall through. But they were supposed to be few and far between and a second dispatch of the patrol was tasked with finding said holes and patching them up in such a way humans were less likely to slip through them.

Hiei half wondered if that girl knew about demons already and was searching for these holes, but she never seemed to know where she was. Nor did her spiritual energy suggest any type of awareness, even the type as simple the buffoon's sister held. Hiei thought of bringing it up to Koenma. Since it was a human matter the current demon king wouldn't have jurisdiction past what they already did to return them to where they belonged.

Hiei had no direct line to the moronic Spirit Prince anymore. He hadn't been called into help in some doomsday crisis since the first tournament. It became obvious that the only way to address this situation was to return to the Ningenkai and visit his old friends. Hiei heaved a heavy sigh. He hated this type of responsibility.

* * *

Kuwabara could feel it the moment his friend reentered the world of humans. Nobody had energy like Yusuke's. It wasn't just that it radiated strength, but the unique combination of human and demon ki. There were other half demons in the world, thousands of them. Unlike Yusuke, their muddled heritage made them weak, some of the lowest class of demon. They often lived among the humans wearing an effortless glamour. Yusuke's ancestral father was a special type of demon, and his first offspring was only human, the blood waiting for only the strongest fighter to awaken.

Other half breeds only made for weak demons. Yusuke was _the_ hanyou. The only one able to possess both energies. He was of both lands.

Unfortunately, this didn't lend well to living in both lands.

Kuwabara took the first train into town and even paid for a taxi to take him to Urameshi's apartment. He raced up the four flights and down the hall to his friend's door, unsure what would be waiting him but knowing it wouldn't be good.

It had been just over two years since Yusuke had been in the Ningenkai. The last Makai Tournament left Yusuke's nation at a bit of a disadvantage due to the number of its denizens who either lost their lives or positions of power against other nation's demons. It was frankly speaking a complicated mess that called Yusuke back to his kingdom despite not competing. Even still, it required him to be a leader for a longer time, reorganizing his command and making sure his denizens who had competed and lived did their duty to the current king of the Makai.

When Kuwabara reached Yusuke, the front door having been unlocked, he was sitting on the end of a king sized bed, perfectly made with crisp sheets that somehow didn't look freshly done. He stared at the TV, remote control in hand. He was oblivious to Kuwabara's arrival as Kieko's image told Yusuke with a heartbreaking smile, "Call me. I want to know when you're safely back." The screen went blank and Yusuke pressed play again.

Keiko appeared on screen again. She was in the kitchen and it was snowing out. Kuwabara knew what the message was going to be. Keiko had asked for his advice on the matter a few times, consulting with Shizuru and Yukina as well. Still, he had never seen the tape.

"Hi, Yusuke. I'm not sure why I'm making this a video," Keiko laughed, "I just have all these thoughts right now that I can't seem to get right in a letter and I don't want to forget them for whenever it is you get back." Keiko nervously pulled at the strands of her hair by her ear. It was short again, a sophisticated bob of sleek hair managed to perfection. She was a sophisticated beauty, all grown up. You could almost miss the crow's feet that were beginning to stomp around her eyes.

"Let me start by saying, I love you. I will always love you. You're my best friend. I've loved you as a friend, as children, as a sweetheart, as a lover. I love you." She looked down to her hands, preparing herself for whatever words she had to say next. "You've been gone about a year now. Before that you were home for a few months after not seeing you for a half year as you helped Kuroko's kids take down that black market. And before that was the third king rebellion you were needed for. And before that was the spirit artifact that fell into demon world that Koenma asked for your help in retrieving. Before that was the crop of new psychics who weren't understanding their powers that you helped round up and train. And I get it. I know you. You try to pretend otherwise, but you care so much. And you have so much power and influence that that caring spreads to anyone who you can reach. And they need it. They need you."

Keiko took a deep breath and tucked her hair behind her ear. "They need you, more than I do. I love spending time with you, but for a long time now, I've worried that being with you was holding you back. I used to not care as long as you came back to me. But now, I don't know. I think it's enough. I'm getting older. You still look no older than twenty. And while we have good time together, I'm a vacation. Not your life. I can't demand that you always come back to me, anymore. I never should have in the first place."

Tears were starting to well up at the corner of Keiko's eyes. She wiped at them gently. "I met someone," she said sharply. "I met someone. He transferred into my branch and I showed him around town and we got lunch together. He's really sweet, Yusuke. He makes me happy. And, and you make me happy," she pleaded, "you do. I don't want you thinking you've done anything wrong. Except." Keiko cleared her throat. "You're not here, Yusuke. And a few months ago Sousuke asked for us to be more than just friends. And while I will always hold a special place in my heart for you," Keiko shook her head, "I need this. I need him, to be there for me, to be there for. All throughout high school and college when boys asked me out, I said no because even though you were gone a lot, I had you. I loved you." Keiko frowned. "I don't feel as if I have you anymore."

Keiko cleared her throat again. "I don't know if I'll even show this to you. I just needed to get it off my chest."

The footage changed and Keiko was sitting in the living room. Her hair was a bit longer and she was dressed for summer. It was the Keiko from the end of the video.

"Hi, Yusuke. I'm sorry to do this to you. I was expecting you home sooner, I suppose. I held off making this video because I wanted to tell you in person, but it looks like I won't get that chance." Keiko held up her left hand, the square cut diamond catching a lens flare. "I'm engaged. Souske and I are going to get married at his family's home in Fukushima and then honeymoon in Hawaii. He's really good for me. I haven't been this happy in a long time. Perhaps ever. I think you would like him. We might be moving after we get back. I've been looking for a new job and he's never really settled into the area."

She took a deep breath and Kuwabara knew instantly what was coming next.

"I'm thirty, Yusuke, and would like to start a family. It's something Souske and I have discussed. I'm ready for the next step in my life. I'm sorry I couldn't take it with you. I hope you don't hate me. I understand if you're angry. Please, please don't blame yourself. You did nothing wrong. I love who you are and if you were here all the time, you wouldn't be the hero that I admire so much."

Keiko smiled as sweetly as she could. "The wedding is the last day of August. It's quick, I know. But a part of me was afraid that if you did come back, I wouldn't be able to go through with this. But I have to move on, Yusuke. We both need to let go. We'll be back mid-September. Even if I'm in Hawaii, Yusuke. Call me." The end of the video repeating itself now. "I want to know when you're safely back."

Yusuke went to press play again. Kuwabara stopped his hand. "Don't," Yusuke seethed.

"Come on, Urameshi," Kuwabara said. "Don't do this to yourself, man."

Yusuke pulled his hand violently out of Kuwabara's grip and tossed the remote against the far wall. It shattered. "I missed stopping her wedding by two days," Yusuke said, voice dead of emotion despite the outburst.

"If you had tried to stop that wedding, I would have done my best to stop you," Kuwabara admitted.

Yusuke's eyes flashed with rage, locking onto his friend's. "How could you say that!" he snapped, standing. "This is Keiko, she-"

"She's my friend, too!" Kuwabara snapped back, pushing Yusuke back onto the bed. Yusuke blinked with shock. "You haven't been here, man. You don't know how hard this was for her, finding someone she loves. Choosing to be with them. Souske's a great guy. I'm happy for her."

"You bastard!" Yusuke yelled, lunging at his friend. In a blink of an eye they were wrestling. Yusuke's energy flaring with every punch, hardly holding back.

"Come on, Urameshi. The neighbors are going to call the cops!" Kuwabara grunted as he tried to protect himself.

It wasn't until Yusuke managed to clock Kuwabara across the jaw and to the ground that he finally let up.

"Shit," Yusuke hissed, dropping to his knees, then his hands. His head hung low and he shook with rage and tears. "How did this happen?" he whispered.

Kuwabara, stinging from the now unfamiliar abuse of Yusuke's punches, sat up and heaved a great sigh. "You were going to get married when you got back from demon world, when you were seventeen," Kuwabara reminded him. "Then you decided to wait until she was done with college. Then you were never home long enough to even pick a date, let alone plan anything. Keiko offered to just elope and you refused. You wanted the best for her."

"But I couldn't even give her my time." Yusuke slammed his fist against the floor. Kuwabara winced for the downstairs neighbors.

"She understands," Kuwabara said, clasping a firm hand on Yusuke's shoulder. "She knows you. If you had given up helping others for her, you always feel guilty that others were in danger. And she would always feel guilty for forcing you to be someone you're not. Even when you were here, you were taking odd jobs out of that ramen cart you sold off."

Yusuke rested his forehead on the cold floor. It was dusty. She hadn't been here in months.

Kuwabara pushed himself to his feet and lowered a hand to Yusuke. "Come on, Urameshi. Have dinner at my place."

They stayed that way for almost a solid minute, before Yusuke finally reached up and let his friend pull him to his feet.

All in all, the event wasn't nearly as bloody as Kuwabara was expecting.

* * *

Kurama returned home, placing his bag in its regular spot next to the couch. It was late and Ittoku would be asleep already. He regretted not being able to see his son to bed, but life as Shuichi Minamino took him to working late more often than he liked. He made his way through the house to the back porch where the light was still on. Shizuru was leaned against the doorframe, a lit cigarette between her teeth.

"I'm surprised you didn't go find Yusuke," she said, blowing a puff of smoke into the night. "He must know about Keiko by now."

"Yes. I worry about him," Kurama mused, "but I trust your brother to handle Yusuke. At least for now."

Shizuru dropped her cigarette and stomped it out. "Just make sure he doesn't go toppling any buildings, okay?" She placed a hand on his waist and kissed his cheek, letting her fingers trail over his stomach as she continued on into the house. "Let me know what your friend wants."

As the door slid shut, Kurama looked up into the array of trees that marked the edge of their backyard. "I do have to find myself curious as to your return, Hiei."

In a mere moment, the fire demon stood a meter away. "You look like an old man," Hiei said, his eyes roaming over Kurama's figure. The former fox demon's fiery hair was cropped short, similar to how Hiei first met him those many years ago. The dignified air about him finally matched his outward appearance.

"I'm thirty-two, not seventy."

Hiei turned his head away. "A far cry from when I last saw you. Human aging makes you look ancient. Can you still fight at least?"

"If the need arises. I'm truly not that old by human standards."

Hiei huffed. It was good to see his friend again. It had been a long time since they went their separate ways, Kurama choosing the life of a human and Hiei returning to the Makai. They had only met sparingly in the years that followed.

"I need to get in contact with the toddler. There's a human annoyance I'd rather have him handle."

Kurama nodded. It wasn't something dire, it seemed. He was able to relax a bit. "I'm afraid I don't have a direct line to Koenma anymore," Kurama informed Hiei. "Your best bets would be either Kuwabara or the current Spirit Detective, Fubuki Sato. You can find her easily enough, I'm sure."

"Rather her than the buffoon."

"Although," Kurama interjected before Hiei could dart off. "I'm sure Yukina would appreciate the visit. I know she has, ah, something she wishes to share with you."

Before the second Makai Tournament, the four of them had gathered at Genkai's to train. It was then that Yukina divulged that she knew Hiei was her brother. She wanted him to know that she was routing for his safety, and that she would miss him while still fully endorsing his decision to stay in the Makai.

The whole event came only to the surprise of Kuwabara, who was a bit terrified of continuing his courtship with Yukina for the next few months.

"You should come visit, while you're still in the Ningenkai sorting things out," Kurama offered. "In two days I will be home during the day. You can meet my son."

Hiei stalled, the news surprising the demon. "Son?"

Kurama nodded. "His name is Ittoku. He's four. Fully human. Although between my oddities and Shizuru's spirit awareness, he'll likely have his own set of abilities."

"What care do I have of a human child?" Hiei asked.

"It was merely a suggestion," Kurama smiled. "Send Yukina my regards." He turned and reentered his house, not waiting for a goodbye. Hiei wasn't the type of give those. By the time Kurama slid the door closed again, the fire demon was gone.

* * *

Chihiro woke up with a headache. She had been getting those pretty frequently. She groaned, not quite sure how she got home. That also had been happening pretty frequently. Enough to worry her. Chihiro would be out searching and then would lose time. Only sometimes she would wake up with what she was even looking for.

"Damnit," she spat, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Chihiro pawed around her bed for her bag, finally coming across the small item. She turned it inside out to dump out its contents. Her wallet, cellphone, house keys. She reached for the last item to fall out, a shard of crystal about the length of her hand and as wide as her pinky. Despite its many edges it wasn't sharp. The whole thing was a golden color, although too translucent to be gold itself. She didn't know exactly what it was, but it was her fault it was in shards, so it was her task to find all the pieces.

At least she found one before spacing out this time. Whatever it was, this was an inside piece. Chihiro rolled out of bed and padded over to her bookcase. On the second shelf she had a tin lunchbox that she used to keep extra cash in. Now, however, it kept all the golden shards she had collected over the three months. This made twenty.

Most of them were still a jumble, but she always tried to put more and more together. The ones that did match up fit together so perfectly Chihiro was unable to pull them apart again. It was her lucky day it seemed, as she tested out the new piece. The slim shard stuck together with three other pieces, one of which was an edge. A vague shape was starting to form. It had a curve to it, but it wasn't a globe. Based off its size and number of pieces she had already found and put together, she estimated she was about halfway there.

Chihiro sighed and put it back in the lunch box. She was still missing so many pieces. With a giant flop back onto her bed, Chihiro tried to remember how she got home. Her keys were even in her bag still. It didn't make sense.

When Chihiro first started losing time, she would generally just find herself back on the street, maybe a half hour later than she thought it was. Then the time started stretching, but she was always on the street or the park. Somewhere nearby to where she spaced out. The last few times she kept waking up at home. All she had to go off of was the strange dream that would sometimes occur with her apparent fugue state.

Strange creatures, a different world, a man with three eyes.

Chihiro rubbed at her eyes and decided to forget it. She had to or else she'd drive herself crazy. After a quick shower and a nicer set of clothes, Chihiro headed out.

Once she reached the club, a bright squeal called her over. "Chi-chi!" Chihiro rolled her eyes. She hated that nickname. Still, she had to be nice to the boss's sister.

Risa rushed over, grabbing Chihiro by the elbow and leading her into the club. "I am soooo glad to see you," she said. "Big brother's in a meeting and won't let me listen in, and this place is boring when no one will dance with me unless he gives the okay."

Chihiro laughed. She may not care too much for Risa, but she could be entertaining. "You should go over to the Blue Fin bar and dance there," Chihiro suggested with a smirk.

Risa grinned wickedly. "Yeah! That'll teach him. Dancing with the other gang." She giggled and continued to lead Chihiro deeper into the club. "Did you find any more of those gold pieces?" she asked innocently. Risa didn't quite understand what was at stake if Chihiro didn't fix the whole thing by the end of the year. That was how long Risa's brother gave her. The "or else" was silently tacked on.

"Yeah. A big one, too," she said. "If I'm lucky I'll finish it in the month."

"That's great!" Risa cheered. "Then you'll have more time to hang out with meeeee."

Chihiro inwardly groaned. Why her?

Three months ago she was tasked with protecting the boss's new treasure as it traded hands. Of course, the cops showed up. In the chaos, Chihiro had managed to nab the mysterious item, but was knocked to the ground. She could hear it shatter inside its box. Worse, as she was trying to stand, one of the traders rushed her way and the whole thing got kicked away and towards a drain. As the box, weakened from the fall, smashed into the sidewalk, it split open and all the insides dropped into the underground. Chihiro only had time to swipe a few shards that hadn't fallen through the crack before darting out of there, police hot on her heels.

Needless to say, the boss wasn't happy. With a cracked rib, Chihiro went back to the site of the trade the next day and began her search for the broken treasure.

She was fairly well versed in the city's sewer systems at this point in her life.

As they reached the back room where all the elite guests drank, Chihiro caught sight of a certain someone waiting for her. "Sorry Risa," Chihiro said, handing the girl off to one of the boss's trusted body guards. "Your dance card may be empty, but mine's not."

Chihiro stalked her way over to the young man who shouldn't be there but found his way in anyway. He was tall and handsome with a swarmy smirk plastered on his face. "What are you doing here, Sato?"

"What? Aren't we on first name basis, Chi-chi?" he reached out to grab her waist but she swatted his hand away. Kaisei Sato was an annoying asshole.

"Don't call me that," she glared. "How'd anyone even let you back here?"

Kaisei grinned. "Everyone knows you're my girl."

"Everyone knows you're a gambler with a knack for winning. Why would they let you back here?" she repeated.

The grin slipped off Kaisei's face. His seriousness shook her. Chihiro had known Kaisei since they joined the same high school, and he was never serious. He reached up and skimmed his fingers over her half sleeve of tattoos. This time she let him touch her.

"It's about your dad. He's back." Her heart plummeted. "They said I could wait for you as long as I didn't join them at the table."

Chihiro stared at Kaisei for another moment before closing her eyes.

"Well thanks for ruining my night. Let's get out of here before someone asks me to do something."

* * *

Genkai's old estate was exactly how Hiei last saw it. Yukina had already taken over household duties by then and was slowly adjusting the personal touches to fit her favor. Now that the old woman had passed on, it was Yukina's home that she unfortunately shared with the dumb carrot top human.

She entered the living room only moments after he did, a brilliant smile gracing her too kind face. Her softness always made a knot form in the middle of his stomach, as if he were something dirty and wrong. He sometimes hated how much he cared for her.

"Hiei," she smiled, "this is a surprise. Kazuma should be back with Yusuke soon."

Hiei looked away. He could sense the two of them traveling closer, but they were still far off. "I should have just gone for the Spirit Detective."

Yukina tilted her head. "Then why didn't you?" She spoke so innocently, but Hiei could feel the slight tease under her voice. She knew exactly why Hiei came to the temple.

"Kurama suggested you had something to share with me," Hiei said.

As if on cue, a cry wailed from the depths of the temple. The first cry started a second cry. Hiei pulled his head back, startled and frankly a bit disgusted. "What is that?" he asked sharply.

Yukina touched Hiei's elbow, her gentle fingers causing him to flinch. "Come. We have time before the boys arrive."

Hiei was led through the temple to one of the guest rooms. The temple was more changed than he had first realized. What had once been a simple guest room was transformed by soft pastels and fairy lights and two cribs. A baby in each.

"Is everyone having children?" Hiei reeled back at the sight. He didn't want to think about the implications of Yukina having twins or that relation she had with the idiot.

Yukina merely chuckled. "They are of that age. Humans want for children once they themselves are grown. Even myself. I would have had a daughter regardless." His sister went over to the left crib. She picked up the swaddled infant that tossed around inside it. A tuft of dark red hair curled up from underneath his little cap. "This is Hiko," Yukina said before thrusting the squirming infant into Hiei's arms. "My son."

Hiei held the thing away from him in alarm. "Why on earth am I holding it?"

Yukina smiled and picked up the other babe. "I can't be expected to cradle two at once, can I?" She looked down at the fussy daughter in her arms. "This is Kazuyo. She is like me. Full blooded ice maiden." The child with the same minty blue hair settled down quickly. Yukina placed the girl back in her crib and thankfully took the squirming boy back from Hiei.

"Hiko is a hanyou. He will not be as strong as you, or perhaps even Kazuma, and he will not have my abilities to heal or control ice. They take after their fathers, you know," she said, her smile softening almost sadly. "Although I have a feeling that since Hiko's father is human, he may also take after his grandfather. It is hard to say, as I do not believe two generations of twins were ever conceived among my kind."

Hiko had settled in his mother's arms, having rocked him as she talked. Yukina put the babe to bed again. Hiei had a hard time tearing his eyes away, even as his sister led them back out to the hallway. Hiko's grandfather. Hiei's father. Would that mean Hiko would be like Hiei? A demon of fire and speed? Hiei had never met his father, never bothered to look even with the grace of his Jagan. He had only cared about finding his sister, someone he considered like him, for all their differences, and not a propagator of his dark childhood.

"Did you ever meet him?" Hiei asked.

"No," Yukina said, knowing without question whom Hiei referred. "The sisters were very quiet on the matter of my mother. Even when they told me about you they revealed little else. It is likely the demon, if he's even still around, does not know of our existence."

Hiei made a quick sound in acknowledgement, no words worth a response.

Back in the main room, Yukina had him sit and brought him tea. He hardly touched it. She filled him in on her life of domesticity. While Hiei truly cared for his sister, it was just another variation of his own life, one that he was more than beginning to resent. She seemed happy, though. He could not fault her for her choices. He could only fault himself.

Soon enough, Kuwabara arrived, towing behind him a decisively drunk Yusuke.

"I see he took the news poorly," Yukina said as she made her way over to greet her husband. She kissed Kuwabara's cheek, an act that still rendered the tall man a blushing buffoon. "Hiei," she said, turning back to him, "could you put Yusuke to sleep? I don't want him waking the twins."

If Yusuke weren't so drunk, Hiei wondered if his Jagan would work against his friend. Hiei was strong, but Yusuke was always something extra. For now, at least, it knocked Yusuke out with little effort.

"I'll go put him to bed. What's he doing here?" Kuwabara asked, nodding to where Hiei sat.

They didn't talk much. Their relationship grew considerably rockier once it became public knowledge that Yukina and Hiei were twins. Hiei hated to say he couldn't claim to hate the oaf anymore. Fighting along side him for so long gained Kuwabara a certain level of respect. His marriage with Yukina simply made things awkward at best.

"I believe he came to speak with you," Yukina said.

Kuwabara gave Hiei an odd look. "I'll be right back."

As he carted Yusuke away, Yukina cleared Hiei's cold tea. "I'll take my leave. I know I need little sleep in comparison to a human, but caring for twins is exhausting work." She leaned over and placed her lips briefly against Hiei's cheek. A chill ran over him, like it always did when their skin touched. Cold, but still comforting. "It was good to see you. You're welcome to stay the night or longer if you wish."

They both knew he wasn't likely to do either.

When Kuwabara returned Hiei got straight to his point. Access to Koenma.


	2. Finders

_Hiei of the Thousand Eyes_

Chapter Two: Finders

* * *

Chihiro rolled out of bed, dragging the sheet with her. She wasn't one to be modest, but she hated that she did this with him. They were friends, and they were lovers, but they didn't love each other. She felt the combo somehow cheapened their friendship. She preferred sleeping with someone she had no attachments to when seeking release. Kaisei sat up behind her, the chill from the missing sheet waking him.

"Morning," he mumbled. Chihiro ignored him as she gathered her clothes. "Leaving so soon?" he asked from right behind her.

"I have to go," she said, not looking at him.

"No you don't," he chuckled, an arm snaking around her waist. She leaned back into his touch, seeking comfort in an old friend. She hated that she did this with him, but there was no one else who understood exactly how she was feeling.

"I have to find the rest of the artifact," she told him.

"You can put it off for a day."

"I need to tell Ryuoku that my dad's back," she said, turning in his grip so they were face to face. His bright blue eyes looked over her face with confidence. He leaned down and pecked her lips. "The only reason I work for him is because I need protection from my dad, Kaisei."

He smiled at her use of his first name. She avoided calling him that. "I can protect you, you know."

Chihiro pushed him away and continued to find her things. "No. You can fight. _I_ can fight. That doesn't mean you can stop my father from getting to me. It's not about strength," she reminded him. "It's about power."

"Your dad just got out of prison. What power does he have?"

Chihiro turned on him. "Did you ever even know my father? No. You didn't." She rolled a hairband off her wrist and tied her long locks into a sloppy bun. "The only reason why I was safe while he was _in_ prison was because I joined Ryuoku."

Kaisei placed his hands on her shoulders. "Chihiro," he said, "you need to calm down. Take a break from your stupid assignment. Take a day before going back to your boss. Today we'll just relax. Away from anywhere your dad will find you."

Chihiro scoffed. "And where's that?"

Kaisei smirked.

* * *

"I don't know what to tell you, Hiei," Koenma sighed, pushing and stamping papers across his desk. "I don't know who this girl is without a name. She doesn't have any spiritual energy to be keeping extra tabs on. I'm not sure what you want me to do."

"I want you," Hiei seethed at the toddler, "to fix these holes the humans fall through. Or maybe put up a barrier that keeps humans _out_ of the Makai. Anything, really. Other than what you're currently doing."

"I will admit; it is curious why she has so constantly found her way into the Makai." Koenma paused in his stamping and actually looked up. "Perhaps you could figure that out."

"I don't work for you, Koenma," Hiei glared. "I don't care about _why_. I just want it to stop."

Konema continued with his paperwork. "I guess that's just on you, then," he said. "Like I said, I can't do anything without knowing who this girl is."

Hiei's mouth pinched in anger. "And if I learn her identity? What then?"

Koenma paused again, thinking it over. "I suppose I could put her on watch. Have our Spirit Detective figure out the why if she has the time. The lack of barrier has created an influx of low to mid-level demons who have a habit of creating minor problems with major implications, remember. Fubuki has her hands full most of the time."

Hiei turned on his heel, dismissing the Spirit Prince before he could be the one dismissed. "You're useless," he spat as his parting remark. "I'll get you her name."

* * *

It was well past noon by the time Yusuke rejoined the living. He had woken up hours ago and didn't even have a headache thanks to his demonic metabolism. Still, he couldn't find it in himself to face the world. Or more aptly, Kuwabara and Yukina. Although, when he heard crying, he couldn't help but investigate.

Yukina was excited to introduce her twins to Yusuke and Kuwabara showed them off like the obnoxiously proud parent he was. Yusuke felt like he fell into a stupor, holding each of them in turn and playing with them. They were so little. So fragile. Yusuke hadn't ever thought much about having kids. There were many people in his life that he took a sort of protective nature to. People younger and weaker than himself. He supposed that could be some sort of paternal instinct, or big brotherly-ness. But he never really thought about having kids himself.

Keiko wanted kids. She wanted kids with Sousuke, at least.

Yusuke found himself in the middle of the forest, beating up some trees because none of the lowly demons that lived there dared to come near him.

"You done landscaping?" Kuwabara asked, his serious face carrying a hint of worry.

Yusuke didn't look back at his friend. His face was only another reminder. He wasn't aging. Not like the others. Kuwabara was a dad and Yusuke was still that punk kid who didn't want to go to school.

He punched a hole into another tree.

Yusuke wrenched his fist out, brushing off the chunks of wood that clung to his skin. He turned around, face set. Decision made. "I'm happy for you, Kuwabara. You got a good thing here. Don't ruin it." He gave Kuwabara's shoulder a solid squeeze before walking further into the woods.

"Where are you headed?"

"Back to the Makai."

"You just got back," Kuwabara said with confusion, although he still knew exactly what motivated his friend.

"I'll come visit sometime." Yusuke didn't look back as he continued on, disappearing through the dense foliage.

There was nothing left for him among the humans. A few friends, sure. But no future. Not anymore. That had been taken away from him the moment his heart stopped the second time. Maybe even the first, and everything since had been a cruel joke of false promises.

* * *

"What the fuck is this place?" Chihiro scoffed with a bit of amazement as Kaisei pulled a cloth off an old school pinball machine. They were halfway up a nearby mountain in some shrine that was filled to the brim with musty junk. "What the hell?"

"It was my grandma's," Kaisei said, crawling around to plug in some of the machines. "Or, well, not my actual grandma. We just all called her that." He stood up and brushed his hands on his pants. Kaisei smirked and leaned against the now ringing, dinging, and flashing machine. "She liked video games."

"I can see that," Chihiro smiled wanly.

"She owned this shrine. They moved all her things down here after she passed a few years back," Kaisei informed her. "Lived in the temple further up the mountain. Some family friends have it now."

"Oh, good, so we're only somewhat trespassing," Chihiro smirked. "So your not-grandma owned both a shrine and temple. Aren't those things usually public or whatever?"

Kaisei shrugged. "I think she owned the whole mountain, to be honest."

Chihiro whistled in response. "So, you're loaded, is what you're telling me. And you're hanging out with a member of the yakuza who needs to get back into her boss's good graces," she stalked over to him. "So I guess that means I should probably beat you up. Steal your goods?" Chihiro placed hands on either of her friend's hips. One hand slid closer to the inner seam of his pants.

"I thought yakuza don't steal things? Against your code of conduct?" His eyes glazed over in that familiar way all men's do.

"Your right. We earn out shit." Chihiro chuckled and reached past him to turn on the soccer game. "Bet you five bucks I'll whip your ass in this."

Kaisei laughed and buried his face into her hair. "You're on."

They wasted the next few hours playing one game after another, continuing the bet with every new challenge.

"Why did your granny have so many of the same system?" Chihiro asked as they plugged in one of the many janken games. She noted the sticker that told her what score was a "passing" mark.

Kaisei shrugged as he stood. "No clue," he said too innocently. "Now stand over while I even the score."

Chihiro watched as Kaisei beat every rock, paper, scissors that popped up with the machine's choices. "How did you do that? It's a game of chance," she scoffed.

"You try," he said, stepping back.

Chihiro started the machine over and continued to only match three times out of all the rounds the game gave her. "What the fuck?" She turned on Kaisei and shoved his chest. "Did you rig this?"

"It's been sitting in this dump since like the 80s. How did I tamper with it just to play this one game of janken against you?" Kaisei nodded to the karaoke machine. "Wanna sing?" Chihiro only gave him a dead faced glare. "Fair enough."

Chihiro pointed over to the punching machine. "Bet I can hit stronger than you."

Kaisei laughed. "You're on."

Chihiro punched first, landing a solid 110. "Not too shabby," she said, blowing on her nails in a mocking matter. The systems at the arcade in downtown only went up to 150.

"Impressive," Kaisei smiled, "before you notice the sticker saying you need at least 120 to win." He tapped the offending sticker.

Chihiro's jaw dropped. "What?" She turned and punched Kaisei's shoulder. "Like that didn't hurt."

Kaisei laughed, rubbing the spot Chihiro hit. "Ouch. No one can claim you don't know how to punch." He then reset the punching bag and smacked it lightly. The game flashed a 200.

Chihiro rolled her eyes. "Okay, now I _know_ this is broken."

Kaisei shook his head with a cocky grin and directed her to the vintage fighter pilot game.

* * *

When Hiei returned to the Ningenkai he began his search for the loathsome female. Koenma was right, without a flashy amount of spirit energy it would be impossible to signal her out from the thousands of other benign humans. The only advantage to the woman falling into the Makai so often was that he was now familiar with her energy.

It didn't take too long to pinpoint where she was. He was surprised and enraged to find her so close to Genkai's temple. Genkai was the only human he ever respected. Perhaps Yusuke, but he was no longer human so that no longer counted. The idea that this meddlesome human was on her property made him think killing her might be the swiftest course of action, damn the consequences.

More surprising was the strong energy next to her. When he jumped over to greet them as kindly as he was capable of, the stronger human was outside the temple geared for a fight. He recognized the human, vaguely.

The boy reared back with surprise. "Hiei?"

"Sato, what's going on?" a familiar girl's voice called from inside. A few moments later the troublesome girl he was searching for stood in front of him. She blinked a few times and tilted her head, her forehead scrunching.

"Do I know you?" she asked.

Hiei didn't let surprise show on his face, but he couldn't help his confusion as he turned his focus back to the boy. She shouldn't be able to remember him.

"You're the Detective's twin," Hiei stated, seeking confirmation.

"Kaisei Sato." The boy nodded. "Is something wrong?"

Hiei could read the worry off the boy. Disaster was a fair assumption when a demon marked as Yusuke's ally shows up unannounced. He directed his attention back to the girl. "What is she doing here?" he demanded. He may not be as skilled at puzzles as Kurama, but even he could piece together the implications of the human falling into the Makai plus a connection to the Spirit Detective's brother. Being on Genkai's territory was an added suspicion, plus her vague recognition of him. It looked as if she were trying to get close to something, something she wasn't supposed to.

"I brought her here to play games," Kaisei snapped, already losing his patience. "The deed may be in Kuwabara's name now, but Genkai was as much my family as yours and she wanted this to be a safe haven."

Hiei near rolled his eyes. "Don't pick a fight," he warned the boy. "Without your sister you wouldn't stand a chance against me."

The girl cocked an eyebrow and leaned against the doorframe. A display of calm neutrality despite the fire behind her eyes. "Oh? And what am I? Hotel wall-art?"

Hiei would have laughed if he were not so annoyed. "You couldn't even touch me, let alone do any damage," he informed her. She bristled.

"Naya-chan," Kaisei warned her, stepping slightly in front of the girl. She seemed surprised by his actions.

"Kaisei?"

"This is ridiculous," Hiei muttered before letting his Jagan flash underneath his headband. The girl fainted, going to sleep at the use of his power. She only managed to miss hitting the floor by the grace of her friend's speed.

"What is this about, Hiei?" the boy snapped.

"Your friend has been falling into the Makai at a rate frequent enough to become a personal annoyance," he said. "Give me her name so I can report her to Koenma."

Kaisei looked between Hiei and the girl. "The Makai? But Chihiro doesn't have enough spirit energy to survive two seconds in that place."

"All the more reason to report it to the Reikai. If even the most mundane of humans are able to slip into my world, we have growing concerns. Keep an eye on your friend." He looked down at the girl. Her face was unremarkable, but the tattoo snaking up her arm was distinctive enough. Chihiro Naya. He had what he needed.

In an instant, he was off.

* * *

Chihiro woke up with the same groggy feeling she had been experiencing when she went searching for shard pieces. Only this time, instead of a weird dream about a man with a third eye, it was a clear memory of that same man, speaking to her and Kaisei.

She jolted up, searching around. She was still in the shrine full of arcade games.

"Kaisei!"

Seconds later the sliding door opened and he popped his head in, nonchalant as can be. "Yo."

Chihiro jumped to her feet, head racing with the events she was remembering. "Who the hell was that guy? Why the hell am I asleep on the floor? What the _fuck_ just happened?" He had asked about her. What she was doing there. It made her worry that this was someone her dad sent, somehow.

He seemed at a loss for words. "Oh. Um. That guy," he trailed off. He looked back outside with a frown. "How much exactly do you remember?"

"What the shit is that supposed to mean?" Chihiro asked. "A random guy shows up. Asks about me. Threatens both of us. Then all of a sudden I'm waking up on the floor." She was seething, trying her best to keep her cool. It felt so similar to all of the times she had missing memory, all the times she woke up with strange dreams. She was trying to hide how terrified she really was. Luckily she had a lot of practice doing just that, even from Kaisei.

"He was nobody, Chihiro," Kaisei said, trying to placate her. "Nothing happened."

"You called me Naya-chan," she said. "You only use my last name when you're trying to sound commanding. When you're scared." Similar to the way she only called him by his first name when her defenses were down. They both used each other's names to make and break the boundaries between them.

Kaisei sighed. He walked over and looped his long arms around her slim waist and dropped his forehead against her shoulder. She let him. "That guy was strong," he whispered into her neck. "Stronger than either of us, or both of us. But he's an ally, of sorts. To my extended family, I guess. All I can tell you is that he wasn't here to harm you."

"How did I fall asleep?" she asked him, unsure if she would get a response.

She had always known Kaisei to keep secrets. He didn't talk much about his sister or his mother when he transferred into her class in first year of high school. He was dodgy about his home life and his past. He kept things vague and then focused on the other person. She could recognize the tactics because she used them herself. They found a sort of solidarity in each other, neither prying too much because they knew what it was like to keep secrets. They were comfortable in the silence of their pasts and put their attention instead on the present and the future.

Kaisei found out what she was hiding eventually. The daughter of a boss, hating the life but finding herself trapped in it. It was when she sought out Ryuoku and his protection that Kaisei stepped in and tried to stop her, but her mind was made up. She skipped out on going to university and instead got her first tattoo. It was detailed in such a way she could get a full body design if she ever wanted to, but Chihiro always sort of imagined finding a way out of the drugs and gambling and extortion.

So Chihiro understood secrets, and accepted that Kaisei kept them. But this involved her. She needed to know.

"It looked like you fainted," he told her. She pushed him away, hearing the half-truth. It _looked_ like she fainted. But it wasn't her delicate sensibilities that put her to sleep.

"Take me back, Sato. I want to go home."

* * *

Yusuke had swapped beating up trees in the Ningenkai for beating up trees in the Makai because even here no demon wanted to approach him. It wasn't until he had almost destroyed one of the few forests in Torrin that Hokushin came and asked him to stop.

"We weren't expecting you back so soon," the bald demon stated.

Yusuke took a deep breath. He felt the tattoos on his body slither back towards his core before disappearing off his skin all together. The still unfamiliar sensation of hair on his back left with it. "Plans changed. How many days until the next Makai Tournament?"

"Four hundred and seventy-eight," Hokushin replied. Yusuke was glad they had finally reached a point where Hokushin treated Yusuke as an equal rather than a lord. Having "Your Lordship" tagged at the end of every sentence was annoying as fuck.

"I need to train," Yusuke told him, looking around at the mess of fallen trees. "My endurance isn't strong enough."

"You're going to compete again?"

Yusuke nodded, mind still trying to figure out how to push himself further. What would the old hag do, he asked himself.

"Do you mind if I ask why the change of heart?"

Yusuke turned to face his second in command, his friend since before Raizen died. "The first tournament, I fought to make the Makai a better place. Since then, I only fought to fight." He clenched his fist and walked past Hokushin. After a few paces he stopped and looked across the horizon of the desert landscape he called his home. "This time, I fight to win."

His words settled between them. A challenge. A promise. If Yusuke were serious, this would prove to be the most challenging tournament yet.

"Good," Hokushin grinned. "Then let's begin."

* * *

Chihiro let Kaisei follow her into her apartment. He had been uncharacteristically trying to get in her good favor since they started their trek back down the mountain and the train ride into the city. It was annoying the ever living fuck out of her.

When they got in, Chihiro dumped her bag and checked the tin lunch box quick enough Kaisei wouldn't see. Everything was still there. She felt antsy. It didn't matter that she was tired from the train, or that the sun had already begun to set. Chihiro swapped out her sneakers for the tall boots she had been using to muck around in the sewers.

"Woah, where are you going?" Kaisei asked.

"Out. I should find more pieces of that damn artifact." She ignored the fact that she was getting her floor all gross and stomped over to her hidden weapons case.

"How do you even find those things anyway? The last shards could be anywhere by now," Kaisei asked.

Chihiro shrugged. "Maybe I'm psychic," she grumbled, rolling the lock combination in place.

Kaisei laughed like that was the funniest joke in the world. She paused what she was doing long enough to shoot him a clear _what the fuck_ face. He only grinned and shook his head so she went back to her safe.

"Come on, Chi. Can't this wait until tomorrow? It's late."

"No."

She pulled out her double blades, the ones short enough she could hide them in her jacket. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Kaise reel back.

"Woah. Why are you brining weapons with you?"

Chihiro ignored him and pulled out one of her side arms. It fit snuggly in her hand, almost looked like a child's toy, but it packed a hell of a punch. She checked the safety lock before loading it.

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU BRINING A GUN!?"

"Say it louder, why don't you," Chihiro hissed. She snapped the magazine into place before pulling out the chest holster she had. Chihiro pulled it on like a very strappy vest. Her gun and short swords fit in it nicely.

"Naya!" Kaisei snapped.

Chihiro stood to face him. "I'm going out. To do what I should have done today instead of wasting it playing video games with you. And I'm taking weapons because my dad has been here."

She nodded to her bed. The sheets were perfectly made. Kaisei remembered that morning when they left. He had rolled out of that bed and thrown the sheet behind him. They hadn't looked at it twice. On top of her pillowcase was a folded paper triangle, the same color red as her sheets.

"What's that?" he asked, wary.

"His misguided attempt at an olive branch," she sneered, pulling her jacket on to hide her weapons. "One day out of prison and he sends me heroin."

"God damn it," Kaisei spat, snatching up the packet and running to the bathroom. A flushing sound could be heard seconds later.

Kaisei had come to her the night before because he had been keeping an eye on her father. So she wouldn't have to. He may have never met the man, but Chihiro was already pretty messed up by the time they met first year of high school. She often wasn't in school for days at a time. She always looked terrible when she did show up, heavy make up doing little to hide the bags under her eyes and nothing to stop the twitching. He helped her detox three times. The last one stuck mostly because her dad was finally behind bars.

Chihiro was halfway out the door by the time Kaisei rushed back. He put a hand out to stop her. She expertly flipped him to the floor.

"I need to do this," she told Kaisei as he forced his way back to standing. "I need to be not here. I need to be doing something with a clear objective that isn't alcohol and I need to do this alone."

"I don't want you out there by yourself," Kaisei pleaded, knowing even with all his skills, she was really good at giving him the slip.

"He's not going to kill me," Chihiro reassured him. "I'm the only one with any violent intent. For the most part." She shrugged. "Come by the club tomorrow. I'll be fine."

Kaisei watched her go. Unless he wanted to blast her with raw spirit energy, he was powerless to stop her.

* * *

Chihiro had marched her way to the movie theater. It was still busy and lit up and would be for a while. It was around here she had last slipped off into who knew what kind of fugue state before waking up in her room. She figured it was as good a place as any to start searching again for more translucent golden shards.

When the artifact shattered, and most of it fell down the drain, Chihiro had started her search at the scene of the trade. Some shards were still just sitting around the curb. When she finally got the grate off the drain, even more shards were in a large heap. Luckily it was just a storm drain and there hadn't been rain recently. The bed was pretty dry if not full of gunk.

However, a large part of the thing was still missing.

Some of it had been swept further down the drain and into the sewers proper. She had to find a loose manhole and climb underground. Some had rolled far enough away from the crash and picked up by passersby. Chihiro hoped that the few she found in other people's possession were the only ones. No one wanted to give their shard up, even when she threatened them. It was a hassle she didn't want to deal with. Not to mention the distances a person could have traveled by this point. The shards could be anywhere and she'd never finish putting the artifact back together.

Chihiro didn't think this was the case. She kept finding the pieces. Even when she blacked out there were times it was just in her possession. She was never one to believe in the supernatural, but it was almost as if the artifact _wanted_ to be put back together. Chihiro buried the thought away, dismissing again how the pieces fit so perfectly together it was as if the item had never broken. There was no such thing as magic. And if there was, there was no way Chihiro would be involved with it.

She turned down the alley that led behind the movie theater. There was likely a sewer entrance there that wouldn't garner her a lot of attention when she tried to pry it open. It was a skill set she never knew she needed, but now was practically a master at. Sure enough, there was a manhole.

As Chihiro knelt down, pulling a mini crow bar out of her bag, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. It glinted, kind of like the shards. This was how things worked. She went to where she thought she might find it, and she found it. Chihiro wondered again if she was psychic or that the artifact was magic, but shook her head. She had been watching too many conspiracy theory documentaries. _Ancient Aliens_ was always playing when she got home at 3AM, tipsy but not drunk enough to pass out.

Although, it was getting harder and harder to ignore how different this acquisition of Ryuoku's was. She didn't know what is was, or why her boss had wanted it. But her need to get out and search for the shards had been gnawing at her stomach all day. Like a compulsion. Like an addiction. Chihiro shuddered. She never wanted to feel that sick sort of need again.

Chihiro pushed aside a stray box to get a better look at the shimmer. "What the?" she whispered. There was a hole in the ground that traveled a bit up the side of the wall. What should lead to some storage unit of the movie theater seemed to instead be a bottomless pit. The shimmer seemed to be coming from somewhere in the impossible hole.

"Maybe it's not actually that deep," she told herself. "It's just too dark to see." Chihiro reached for the shimmer, hoping for another shard piece. It always seemed just out of reach. She scooted closer to the hole's edge, straining her hardest to reach the shard. She scooted ever closer. Just a little bit further. She was sure the tips of her fingers were brushing against it. Just. A little. More.

Chihiro wrapped her hands around something. A moment of triumph made her grin before she lost her balance. And slipped through. She didn't have time to register that she was falling until she hit the ground.

Above her was a speckle of black floating amongst a green sky. She was sore all over, but somehow not otherwise injured. Based off the trees nearby, that fall should have killed her. Her hand was clasped around a shiny golden shard, a big one too. Another edge piece.

She stood, looking around in confusion. This seemed almost… familiar. There was no one around. Nothing around. Just a few trees and what looked like the ruins of a walled city a kilometer or so away.

She turned away from the city. There wouldn't be people there, and something told her it was dangerous regardless. The green sky gave her the creeps. It felt polluted. She'd call it a smog effect except there were no factories. No anything.

Except another shimmer in the distance. The shard in her hand almost felt like it was vibrating, letting her know a brother was near.

Chihiro forgot the green sky. Forgot the black hole she fell through. Forgot the impossibility of her circumstances. She forgot everything except the swords on her back, the gun at her side, and the shard shinning in the distance.


	3. Puzzle Pieces

_Hiei of the Thousand Eyes_

Chapter Three: Puzzle Pieces

* * *

Hiei returned to the Makai after delivering his information to Koenma. The toddler prince had told him he would send Botan to look into it, but that didn't garner Hiei much relief. He had found Mukuro's palace, this time near the northern border of Alaric, and spent only a brief time in his chambers resting before his com device started beeping. Hiei groaned. He wasn't supposed to be even working a shift right now, and with all the hassle of the last few days he didn't want to be doing anything related to his work. The fact that he even had what could be considered a job was infuriating.

"What?" he snapped into the receiver.

He shouldn't have been surprised by the response. Minutes later he was on the other side of the territory. The girl was surrounded by a small group of some lower level demons. Many of the underlings on these grunt jobs were those foolish enough to enter the tournament but then quit the moment they saw their opponent to be someone much stronger. They were pathetic weaklings.

He was only mildly impressed to note that the girl had chopped off one of their arms. The feat should be impossible for someone with so little spirit energy, despite how weak the demon.

"Hiei!" one of them shouted when they noticed him. "Thank god you're here. You can stop her."

The girl spun around, eyes wild with fear and confusion, but a determined anger behind them that had been absent before. Chihiro held double blades at her side, not poised to attack but ready to move. Perhaps she even knew what she was doing under a human perspective.

"You," she gasped, eyes roaming over the lofty fire demon.

Hiei quirked a lazy eyebrow. She clearly recognized him, though he was sure he again wiped her memory at the temple.

He didn't like that she was invading his territory so often. He didn't like that she was able to breathe here when all evidence pointed to her being a simple human. He didn't like that she was remembering things he made her forget.

"Hiei, sir," one of the demons said as he stumbled forward. "The human-"

"Don't touch that!" Chihiro shouted, twisting herself so that one of her short blades was at the demon's throat while still keeping herself facing Hiei.

Hiei looked down to note a blue leather jacket on the ground, slightly torn. Poking out underneath was a small satchel. The girl's bag, no doubt. There must be something inside she found precious. She was foolish to let it so far out of her reach. Perhaps it got pulled from her during the fight. Regardless, it was foolish.

He held her jacket and bag in a blink of an eye. It took her a moment, but when she screeched, he smirked. He had already opened her bag and found what was obviously so special. Two slightly glowing stones lay nestled among her things.

Hiei could sense her lunging. He moved out of the way without taking his eyes off the bag's contents.

It was more than just a fancy rock though. He frowned. The energy coming off the stone was off. He hadn't sensed it at all before looking at it. And surely that child who brought the girl to Genkai's land was aware enough that anything slightly demonic or spiritual would have caught his radar.

No, this was different. She lunged again. He dodged again. Hiei wouldn't be able to sense its power if it weren't for his third eye. Its extra sight showed him what his other senses did not.

There was a line of yellow energy connecting the two stone pieces, as if they knew they belonged to each other. He could almost make out another line, trailing off into the distance. They were parts of a whole, and seeking out the rest.

What was more interesting, though, was the line of energy that tangled around the girl like a web. He looked up to examine the energy around her with his Jagan. He was surprised he hadn't seen it before, but the stone's power was well hidden. It was only because he was holding a piece now that the energy _let_ him see.

As Chihiro looked between the vast space where Hiei was and where he stood only moments ago, he sized up the energy. It wasn't a web, he realized. It was more alive than that. It was protecting her from the dark energies of the Makai and helping her mind resist his influence. It had wrapped around her body and soul like and extra skin, though incomplete. And it pulsed with its own heartbeat.

"What is this?" he asked.

She looked around, sizing up the demons that still surrounded her. She may have wounded them and kept them at bay, but she knew she wouldn't last. Especially now that he was with them.

"Why should I tell you?" she spat.

Hiei frowned. He wasn't used to being disobeyed. "Either tell me, or I forcibly rip the memory from you. It will not be pleasant."

The human startled. Her eyes widened with fear. He could almost taste the way her human mind was trying to deny everything it saw and heard. This was all a bad dream. Yet, perhaps after his visit to the shrine, she was starting to piece things together and believe.

Chihiro swallowed a lump in her throat. "I don't know. But it's my task to put it back together."

Hiei frowned. He toyed with the pieces of stone. "Who wants them?"

"My boss. He bought it. Once I find all the pieces, I'll give it to him."

It was the truth. He could heart it. A lie had to be very well crafted to escape his third eye's detection. He supposed he should tell Koenma that the human was trying to put this spirit artifact together. Or that her boss, whoever he was, wanted it. It could be dangerous. Many other humans had tried to use things like this to make life difficult for Hiei. Although, he supposed he was once also the creature using artifacts to make life difficult. The memory made him almost chuckle. He truly was weak back then, to rely on such devices.

Hiei figured if Botan ever did get back to him, he would inform her. Otherwise, let the dumb humans have their fun. What consequence was it to him? If the world went to ruin, that might even be fun.

He tossed the bag back over to the girl. She caught it, clinging it to her chest. For a moment, he felt bereft without it. Hiei noticed the yellow energy had twined around his fingers. So that was why it clung to heavily to the girl. She had found many pieces of it. It did not want to let her go for that. Hiei glared at the yellow tendrils and they slipped away, speeding back to her, and his yearning for the shards disappeared with them.

Interesting.

"How close are you to finding all the pieces?" he asked.

The girl shrugged. "I don't know how many there are. But it looks like with this big one, I'm close."

He nodded. Koenma would be useless. That was for sure. Once the Spirit Prince didn't take an interest, whatever matter that had been brought up became nothing more than a paper in his stacks. Hiei had already done this much work. This would at least break up the monotony of his life, for a little while.

"If I help you find the rest of these shards, will you stop coming into the Makai?" Hiei asked her.

"The Makai?" she huffed in near hysterical disbelief. He could taste her wanting to rationalize again, to deny. Chihiro took a look around. At the demons, at the sky that was darkening from a ghastly green to a hazy red, at him. She swallowed again. "Right. The Makai."

The girl chewed on her bottom lip. "I think, and I'm not sure because I also think someone has been tampering with my memory," Chihiro shot Hiei a dark look at that. He smirked. "I think I fell down here when I was looking for this shard." She held out the larger chunk of stone. "I was searching, and then I found a hole that shouldn't exist, and I fell. And it felt familiar. So, if the only reason I'm here is because I'm looking for this, then yeah. If you help me find the pieces that are here." She hesitated. "In the Makai. Then I won't come back anymore."

Hiei nodded. "Good." He flashed his Jagan, stronger than he had the last few times he dealt with this human to try and push past the barrier the yellow energy was creating.

With the help of his Jagan, Hiei could wipe memory, put to sleep, or even control the body. When the victim was weak. It only worked against lowest level demons and weak humans. If they were stronger, their defenses had to already be down, like Yusuke with his alcohol.

His other skills from the Jagan had no such restrictions, only limited by his own strength.

Either way, Chihiro fainted with only minimal effort, falling heavily to the hard packed dirt. She shouldn't remember a thing this time.

* * *

Kaisei kicked around a sizeable rock, biding his time. She would be out soon. Hiei's appearance the day before and the claim that Chihiro had been to the Makai had Kaisei worried. It was odd, regardless. Worse when you considered the timing of Chihiro's father returning from prison.

The door clicked open. Kaisei looked up and gave a sour grin. "Hey, sis."

Fubuki was unsurprised to see him. She would have sensed him the moment he got to her neighborhood. "What do you want, Kaisei?" She had her detective kit with her and was tying her unruly hair in to a high ponytail. "I have a job to do, in case you forgot."

Kaisei leaving the post of Spirit Detective had been a strain on their relationship. They had each taken up the post as co-detectives when they were fourteen. More than ten years later, and Fubuki was still at it. Kaisei missed it, at times. They grew up killing demons together, after all. But he hated the lies. He wanted to live a more normal life.

"This might be related," Kaisei confessed. "Hiei came to see me yesterday."

That got his twin's attention. Hiei wasn't someone either of them interacted with often. He had been in the Ningenkai around the time they took up the detective mantel, but only for the purpose of training for the second Makai Tournament. Since then, he'd only been around a small handful of times, never really connected to the Spirit Detective work.

"What did he want?" Fubuki questioned.

"Do you remember my friend Chihiro?"

Fubuki crossed her arms. "By name." Kaisei had never introduced his friends to his family. He thought it was safer that way.

Kaisei shifted his weight nervously. He had debated all day whether or not to bring this to his sister. He didn't want Chihiro's already complicated life to get tied up with the supernatural. But if Hiei was telling the truth, and there was no reason for him to be lying, his friend already was mixed up in everything. He took a deep breath and told the Spirit Detective what he knew.

* * *

Kurama was pleasantly surprised to find his friend in his back yard. He hadn't actually expected Hiei to take him up on the offer to visit during the day.

"You could have warned me," Hiei huffed.

"About Yukina?" Kurama guessed.

Hiei growled. That was an affirmative. It was curious to Kurama how many animal-like traits Hiei possessed. True, he was a fire demon, but there was more to it than that, Kurama believed. Regardless, Hiei didn't like being taken by surprise.

"I suppose I could have, but you could have also been around at all during the last oh, eight years," Kurama fired back. Hiei had shown up less and less as time went on. Kurama didn't really resent him for his choices, but he would not let Hiei forget it was his choices that left them so far apart.

At that moment, the sliding door opened. Shizuru had a shy Ittoku at her hip. "Give him a break, Kurama," she smirked. "It grosses me out too that Kazuma had a kid." Shizuru leaned her head close to her son's and pointed over to Hiei. "That's your uncle. Say hi."

Ittoku gave Hiei one glance before burring his head into Shizuru's shoulder, nothing but his coppery brown hair visible.

Shizuru rolled her eyes fondly. "Okay, down." She lowered Ittoku to the ground who immediately ran back inside. They could all sense him peeking around the corner.

Hiei looked disturbed, to say the least. "Uncle?"

"Yes, well you're finally tall enough to pass as an adult," Kurama chuckled.

Hiei had grown another few inches since Kurama last saw him. When they first met, and Kurama was still in middle school, Hiei had barely made it to Kurama's chest. By the time they fought in the Dark Tournament a year later, Hiei had grown a full head. Many years later, Kurama's body had reached its full human height, but Hiei was still growing. They were nearly the same height now.

The fire demon growled again at the remark and flicked his eyes to Shizuru. She was as serene as ever. The woman often reminded Hiei of his sister. Both calm, both caring. Kurama's choice in mate however was much sterner than Yukina could ever hope to be. It was almost a shame it was Kuwabara who became the fighter. His sister was clearly the more formidable in their natures.

"Ittoku will come around if you stay long enough," Shizuru offered. "But you're too restless for that."

It was uncanny how well Shizuru read people. Truly formidable, Hiei thought again. Kurama merely smiled at his wife before returning his gaze to Hiei.

"This life," Hiei started, trying to understand his own question. "You've glued yourself here past the point of your humanity now."

Shizuru barked a laugh. "Come inside," she said. "Have a drink, complain about what you really want to." She turned and entered the house, scooping up the spying child on her way to the kitchen.

"I take it Koenma couldn't help with your nuisance," Kurama said as he too entered the house. Hiei reluctantly followed.

"I found my own solution," Hiei offered.

"Is that what brought you back my way?" the fox asked, seating himself in the living room. Shizuru had already popped open a beer for herself. She held one Hiei's way in offer, but the demon shook his head. She shrugged and tossed Kurama a bottle of Calpis.

"I had to deliver her again. She lives not far from here."

"Deliver her?" Shizuru snorted. "What? Like a package in the mail?"

"You brought her all the way home?" Kurama asked surprised.

Hiei clenched his jaw. Protocol was to lead the humans back into the Ningenkai and let them forget. The girl had become such a time consumption he found it less of a hassle to just put her to sleep. It took barely a second's skim of her mind to find where she lived. He normally gave the job of returning her to someone else. That way none of them had to deal with her stubborn fighting. Her six or seventh trip into the Makai had been Hiei's last straw when it had taken four of his men to contain her because she kept slipping away. It took them almost an hour to get her back to the portal to lead her home. He knew now they were lucky she had never had weapons on her before. He might have actually lost men back when they still thought her a quirky anomaly. That would have resulted in more work for him.

"She's a pain in my side," Hiei retorted, "it's easier to knock her out than drag her out of the Makai like a petulant child."

"There's something else, I'm sure," Kurama said.

Hiei hated that Kurama was right. He brought her home personally this time because he wanted to know something. From his cloak, Hiei pulled out one of the translucent gold shards. He tossed it to the fox demon.

"Do you know what that is?"

Kurama had caught it flawlessly and was now turning it over in his hands. "No," he muttered eventually. "Should I?" He looked even closer at the stone. "It almost looks like plastic; this type of coloring isn't natural. And yet it is solid stone."

Hiei could see the way the stone's energy wrapped around Kurama's fingers.

"Give it here," Hiei said.

Kurama instinctively pulled it closer to himself. Hiei was right. The stone was tying itself to people who touched it. Perhaps as a way to ensure its reconstruction. If people were so enthralled with one shard, they would go crazy to gather all of them. Hiei pushed out some of his Jagan's energy and the tendrils of yellow pulled back from Kurama. The fox set the stone down on the nearby coffee table, looking troubled.

"I could feel that," he said, "when you made it let go. But I couldn't feel it take hold."

"It masks its energy. The Jagan can see it, but otherwise it's invisible."

"Curious," Kurama said.

Hiei pocketed the item again. "If you don't know what it is, then I see no harm in letting her have it." Surely, if it were something of value or power the most infamous thief of the Makai would recognize it."

"The human girl?" Kurama clarified.

"It's been the reason she keeps coming into the Makai. Let it enthrall her," he shrugged. "I don't care." Hiei turned his face past where Shizuru stood. The child was standing in the hall, watching them with wide, curious eyes. He ran away when Hiei caught him. "You have a child. Yukina has children. I suppose Yusuke and that woman of his have a brat or two as well."

Despite Yusuke's frequent trips into the Makai, they rarely saw each other. They mostly kept to their own territories.

Kurama shook his head sadly. "Actually, Keiko has left Yusuke. For good."

This shocked Hiei. He never had a care about Yusuke's female, but he always thought they would be together for the rest of her measly life. Keiko had been his hostage when first fighting Yusuke, and the reason he found the strength to beat him. And again with the Saint Beasts. Time and time again Yusuke found strength in Keiko.

Hiei remembered his appearance at the temple the other night. His drunkenness hadn't been explained, but it made sense now. Yusuke had lost his mate, although they were not actually mated. A crushing moment for a demon. Perhaps more so for a human. Hiei didn't know.

"Surprising," was all Hiei could say.

"More surprising than me having a son?" Kurama asked, curious.

Hiei shrugged. "Possibly." Hiei eyed where the child was once again peaking at them. Hiei toyed with the shard in his pocket. Returning it to the human girl meant his time in the Ningenkai was up, and he would soon return to Mukuro.

He thought of Yusuke again. If he was unable to keep his relationship with a woman he was so desperately attached to, what hope did Hiei have to make something with Mukuro when they were already not caring towards the other. If Mukuro left him today, he would not be the mess Yusuke is. She would probably only have wounded pride if he left her, but no heartbreak.

Could a heart break if it didn't beat?

Hiei shook his head. "I should go."

"Actual departing words," Kurama hummed. "Perhaps you have grown."

Hiei ignored him. He had to return the shard piece. It should be the last one.

* * *

Chihiro woke up with a headache. She had been getting those pretty frequently. She groaned, not quite sure how she got home. That also had been happening pretty frequently. Enough to worry her.

Chihiro sat up with a start. She remembered Kaisei. He had brought her to a temple and… and she was angry at him for some reason. But it was a bit of a blur. She had been dreaming of that man with three eyes again. It somehow felt connected, but Chihiro wouldn't have told Kaisei her weird dreams. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

She had gone out searching for shards last night. She was sure of it. And her father had been by. She was still wearing her weapons harness and it was almost the afternoon. This was not a good time to be missing memory.

Chihiro pushed herself out of bed intending to search for her bag. Unlike usual, where it would end up on her bed or the floor beside it, her pack was neatly placed on her dresser. She spotted it right away. Twenty or so gleaming shard fragments lay on top of it, including one large chunk.

With trembling hands, Chihiro pushed all the pieces around. There was no note, no indication of how they got there. She reached for her tin lunch box. The pieces she had previously found and put together were still there.

"Is this it?" she asked herself. "Did I find them all?" Somehow that didn't seem quite right, but the thought had already left her mind. She had a puzzle to put together.

The sun was setting by the time she slipped the last shard into place. The golden resin fractured light into a million pieces. It glowed faintly in her hands, smooth as glass and warm as asphalt on a summer's day. She almost dropped it, but instead her grip tightened.

She looked down at the object she had reassembled. A single, glowing eye. It enraptured her thoroughly. Chihiro couldn't look away. She couldn't look away. But for a brief, shining moment, she saw everything.


	4. Fault Lines

_Hiei of the Thousand Eyes_

Chapter Four: Fault Lines

* * *

Kurama shot to his feet. Shizuru gasped and dropped the pot she had been cleaning, also sensing the massive shift of energy. Down the hall, Ittoku started to cry.

"What do you think that is?" Shizuru asked, worry lacing her voice even as she calmly picked up the pot and rinsed it again.

"I don't know," Kurama admitted. They glanced at each other and both knew what to do, or rather, what each of them was going to do. Shizuru was going to comfort their child and get him ready for bed, because the threat wasn't imminent and she wasn't going to get herself involved if she didn't have to. Kurama was going to find the source and deal with it in whatever way he could, but something that strange spelled trouble and he didn't want others to be harmed where he could help.

It didn't take him long to track the energy to an apartment complex not far from his home. Other than the lingering taste of such a massive dispel of energy, nothing was amiss. There was a powerful aura inside, though. He approached carefully, hand at the ready with his rose seed that was itching to grow for him.

The door to the apartment was unlocked, and when he pushed it open, none of the lights were on. Regardless, Kurama could see everything from a strong glow emanating from the main room. A girl lay passed out, her body surrounded in thick emerald green light. Clutched tightly in her hand was a golden eye.

This wasn't good. The material the eye was made of was clearly the same as the shard Hiei had presented him earlier that day. This was the girl Hiei had been complaining about, and the artifact was not as harmless as they had predicted. Kurama knew it had been foolish to let Hiei hand something over to a human when it was able to enthrall anyone without a Jagan, but Kurama let it go because it was not his choice to make and Hiei would not listen to reason without a fight.

Perhaps it would have been worth the destruction of his backyard to keep something like this out of the hands of a human. Because it was clear as day that his girl, whoever she was, wasn't human anymore.

Kurama kneels down beside the unconscious girl. He first checked her breath. It was steady, as if she were in a deep sleep. Then he checked her pulse. He waited. And waited. But there was no beat of the heart pumping blood through her veins. No, the transference of her body would have blown the valves of her heart open. It would stretch the muscle until breaking point and then thicken until the tissue was closer to stone than flesh. The heart of a demon who wasn't made of earth was not a pump like a human's, but a case that spun blood so fast it cycled through the body at a third of the rate.

It made demons faster and stronger, it gave them more energy and faster healing. And there were occasions where a human turned into a demon, but it was rare and a cursed artifact such as the one the girl held were the only things that could do it unless they were already hanyou like Yusuke. Simply replacing a heart would kill the human. They needed the energy to change the heart themselves.

Kurama had never seen anything like the golden translucent eye in the girl's hand. He had never even heard of such an object before. But the results of what it could do were astonishing enough that he now had an idea what it was the girl held.

He needed to call the Spirit Detective.

* * *

Chihiro struggles awake. For a moment it felt as if something were caught in her throat. She gagged and then gasped, fighting to open her eyelids that somehow felt as if they were made of lead. Chihiro could hear a voice in the other room, speaking to someone, but she couldn't make out the words. Adrenaline rushed her veins at the thought her father's men could be in her home. She finally pried her eyes open. A sudden wave of clarity hit her.

The headaches. The hole in the ground. The monsters. The man with three eyes. The hundred golden shards.

Her hand cramped and she squeezed it unconsciously. Chihiro looked down to see the golden eye in her hand. She had done it. She had put it all together.

Chihiro sprang to her feet, carefully tucking the eye into her bra. About the size of a cell phone, it would be safer there than in her pocket. She unsheathed her double blades which were surprisingly still on her back, and headed to the kitchen.

A man with shocking red hair was just hanging up his phone. She didn't recognize him as one of her father's followers, but he could have recruited since she left him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Miss Naya, something has happened to you," he said calmly, giving little care to her weapons. He raised his hands as if talking to an easily spooked child. "I would like to ask for your cooperation."

She was sure it was her father's man. Why else would he be so carefree around blades and know her family name? The one displayed outside the door was a fake. Chihiro didn't want anyone to put the pieces together that she was the daughter of the famous crime boss.

But she was caught off by his first words. Something _had_ happened to her. She had learned about demons. Surely her father's reach didn't make it all the way into another world.

"Why the hell would I do anything for the likes of you?" she spat.

The man took a step closer and for an instance Chihiro could swear his hair was silver. The scent of roses hit her and she somehow knew that she was wrong. Surely a man like her father would have sought out the most dangerous things in the world. In any world. He would surely have a demon under his thumb.

Chihiro didn't know how to gauge this new threat, but she knew she shouldn't do it alone. Whoever this man was, he had made a crucial mistake by waiting in the kitchen. Chihiro feinted forwards and the darted out the living room fire escape.

She heard him call after her. Instinct made her jump to the left. Something zoomed past her, imbedding itself into the brick like a bullet on steroids. She didn't want to know what would have happened if it had hit her. Chihiro didn't think and ran as fast as she could.

* * *

Fubuki stormed into Koenma's office, startling the prince as the doors slammed open. "We have a problem," she informed him.

Koenma looked up, worried. Fubuki never came to him with problems, only solutions. "What is it?"

"Did Hiei come to you about a human girl?" she asked.

"Yes. Perfectly ordinary – "

"She's a friend of my brothers. Kaisei tells me she's been putting some artifact together for months, searching for pieces every day. Hiei told Kaisei she'd been falling into the Makai. _Kurama_ just called. He said the girl had been finding _pieces of the artifact_ in the Maki, but that Hiei let her have it."

"He _what_?" Koenma said, standing up. Hiei should have known better than to just let something from the Makai into the hands of a human. Kurama should have known better than to let Hiei do this!

"She put the pieces together. Kurama contacted me. He still doesn't know what the artifact is, but it blasted her heart open with energy. It turned her into a demon."

Koenma's face paled. He should have taken more care with Hiei's request. Hiei never came to him for anything. Of course his minor annoyance would have been related to something so big.

"Do you know what the artifact looked like?"

"Kurama said it was gold like and shaped like an eye."

Koenma sank back into his seat. "This could be bad. Depending on if we can get it back."

"But, Sir, what is it?" Fubuki demanded.

Koenma rand a hand over his face. "The Eye of Solomon. It was the artifact used to turn the Toguro brothers into demons."

Fubuki's eyes widened. She had been a young child at the time team Urameshi defeated the Toguros, but she still knew of their strength and near immortality. If this eye could make demons that strong, it could lead to a verifiable army.

"Call your brother," Koenma instructed her. "Have him find this friend of his. If she still has the eye, we need it back."

Fubuki nodded, fully intending to track this girl down herself. Still, her brother's insight would be valuable.

As she turns to leave, Koenma raises his hand. "Oh, and one more thing."

* * *

Chihiro darts past the security with a quick wave and a breathy greeting. They do nothing but raise an eyebrow at her hasty entrance. She pushes her way through the crowd of the club and into the back rooms. The dance music is instantly softened, replaced by the constant chatter of gamblers and escorts.

"Chi-chi!" Risa squealed.

Chihiro gave her a strained smile. "Risa! Where's your brother?"

Risa frowns since the attention's not on her, but dutifully points. Ryoku doing business behind a cloud of smoke from the table he stood by, but he would pause his dealings for this. Chihiro marched over, fear of her father and the strange new world of demons giving her the strength to act so boldly.

Ryuoku flicked his eyes to her. He calculated her stance and her face. She could feel the way his gaze crawled over her body, detached and uncaring. He held a hand up to silence his business partner, his full attention on her now. "You have something for me?"

Chihiro reached underneath the fabric of her shirt and pulled out the lump of luminescent gold. "Every piece."

Ryuoku grinned wickedly, a smile she rarely saw. Chihiro had chosen Ryuoku to protect her for a number of reasons. He didn't deal drugs, that wasn't his trade. He hated her father almost as much as she did. He used logic over emotion in most situations. His level head had kept him out of trouble time and time again. Still, he was a boss. He could be brutal when he chose to. He could be malicious. She had chosen Ryuoku because he understood what it would mean to protect her. She hadn't chosen him because he would treat her right. All she could hope for was better than her father.

As Ryuoku reached for the golden eye, Chihiro felt a tremor run down her spine. It felt like a warning of some kind. Her fingers tightened around the item briefly. Chihiro didn't want to let it go. She had worked so hard to put it all together. She had been accosted by things that shouldn't exist. She was holding back tremors at the very idea they were real, something she wouldn't have to know if it hadn't been for this stupid thing.

But Ryuoku was her boss now. And she retrieved it for him. Completing the task meant she would be able to join her old post before it broke. A chance for advancement in the underworld. More protection.

She forced herself to open her hand, to keep her palm flat as she offered the golden eye to Ryuoku.

He took it like it would shatter again at the slightest touch. He took it with reverence and glee and something dark behind his eyes. He took it and ran his thumb over the carvings and muttered something under his breath. He took it and kissed it like a new born child.

They were relatively alone in the back corner. The business partner he had been speaking with had stepped away, waiting to be called back. The gamblers were rowdy and in their own world, despite being mere steps away. In that moment, Ryuoku acted as if he were the only one in the room.

Then the moment passed. The glee and reverence drained from his face, leaving it stony and cold and far too reminiscent of the man Chihiro was hiding from.

"What is this," he demanded, his voice calm and soft. It made her heart speed in fear.

"The artifact," she answered, unsure what he was asking.

"Nothing happened." This time his lips snarled around the words as if he were holding back a caged lion behind his teeth.

"Was it supposed to?"

The game behind them was quieting down, catching wind of the boss's displeasure.

"You took it," he accused.

"What? No," Chihiro pleaded, confused and rapidly becoming truly afraid. "That's it, I swear. I put it together and – "

"I don't know how you knew about the wish, but I will make you pay for taking what is mine, Naya-chan." His voice had calmed again. Steely cold. All the tables had gone quiet. The only sound the beating of music and dancing in the club in the front. "You are going to wish you had stuck by your father's side. I should have known a daughter who left her family had no loyalty and couldn't be trusted."

"I didn't do anything!"

Ryuoku reached for his gun. Chihiro watched it happen as if her life were in slow motion. She could feel the yakuza at the table all reach for their weapons. In a moment, all attention would be on her. And she was in the back corner of a back room and no real way out.

* * *

Hiei enters his chambers to find Mukuro already there. He never knew when she would be in. They didn't always spend the night together. More often than not, she spent her nights training. She needed very little sleep. He supposed he had avoided her for lone enough. It was time they saw each other again.

"I have concerns about you," she started with. Mukuro never beat around a subject or lead into a conversation. "This isn't working. I can feel you pulling away."

He didn't bother to remind her he had been pulling away for the better part of the last fifteen years. "What do you propose we do about it?" he asks, pulling off his cloak and throwing it on the far chair.

"I don't care that it's not working, Hiei," she said. He looked up at that, trying to not show his surprise. They had invested more than a decade with each other. A relatively short time for the life span of a demon, but enough time to have a strong enough attachment to _care_.

Even he cared. He wanted it to work, even though he knew it wouldn't. It was one of the reasons he had stayed so long.

"We never properly mated, Hiei," she reminded him. "I did that for a reason. I don't even want to be tied to another, in any way."

He supposed he felt obligated to her, in a way. They had saved each other. That sort of life debt didn't go without payment. "I've always known that," Hiei said. It hadn't stopped him from pursuing her back then.

"My issue isn't with us not working. My issue is with you pulling away."

"What difference does that make?" Hiei asked, laying his sword down. He wanted to rest. This conversation was going to make his brain hurt.

Mukuro walked over and placed her cold fingers on his chin and twisted his head to look her way. "My worry is that your waiver in this relationship translates to your devotion to my leadership. I don't want to lose my second in command over something as trifle as a failed romance."

He yanked his chin away from her grip. "I've worked hard to obtain this spot. I'm not likely to give it up over this."

"That's not what I'm saying."

Hiei stilled. Her tone was icier than he had heard it in years. "You think I would try to usurp you." The revelation came like a smack in the face. He turned his gaze back to his sword.

"You're still a foolish child," she scolded. "Impulsive and irrational. You don't know how to play the long game, the strength of our life spans."

"You think instead I would try to kill you for your kingdom?" he scoffed. Hiei grabbed his sword and cloak and was by the door before she could blink. "Perhaps I made a mistake taking up with you when I was still _so young_ ," he spat. "I'll find my own room."

"Regardless of your future inent," Mukuro said, her voice betraying her softer side, although her face was still sharp with anger. "I do wonder. If I cannot hold your attention, who can?"

Her words taunted him as he sped off. That was the other reason he had stayed with her for so long after he knew it was ending. Mukuro was a surprise. Love and affection, in whatever form he found it in, was not something he ever expected out of his cursed life. He didn't think he would ever find it again. And if he did, she was right. How could it possibly hold?

Hiei was almost at the training grounds, needing somewhere to let his aggression out, when he felt the presence of a strong human. It was vaguely familiar so he didn't put up too much guard when he changed course to greet it.

It was the female twin, the current Spirit Detective. She seemed annoyed to be there and was clearly waiting for him.

"We have a problem."

Hiei wanted to slice her throat open. Would this never cease? "What?"

"That human girl you've been catching here, that you _let have a spirit artifact_ ," she over enunciated her words to get her displeasure across. "She's not human anymore."

Hiei reared his head back in surprise. "Do you mean she died?"

"No, Hiei. I mean you gave her something that turned her into a demon. And not just some mindless minion like that sword you stole did. This item is what made the Toguro brothers. This is your fault."


	5. Foresight

_Hiei of the Thousand Eyes_

Chapter Five: Foresight

* * *

Chihiro felt as if the world moved in half time as she read the situation. Every possible move would end in a bullet to her body. There was one path with minimal damage, but there were too many people with guns. She'd be hit, at least once, if she was lucky. Ryuoku raised his gun. Chihiro dove past him into a roll, breaking past the cluster of yakuza gambling and giving her a path to the door. As she stood, crouched, she pulled the blades that were still in their harness at her back.

She hadn't moved faster than them, but the world still had that edge of slow motion to it as the bullets began to fly. She deflected the first three of four with the flat of her blades, the last skimming the side of her arm, unavoidable. She shouldn't have been able to block any of them. The ache that hit her as the speeding metal tore open her flesh was muted, somehow. Pain without being painful.

She closed her eyes to a blinding light and ignored the explosion and yells of the fellow yakuza in the back room. A hand circled around her wrist and tugged. She followed instinctually before seeing Kaisei with a determined look in his eye. In the chaos of the exploding light, they were able to escape.

They ran for blocks, weaving through back alleys to find themselves on the other side of town. It wasn't until they reached an empty bus station that they stopped and Chihiro had the wherewithal to sheath her blades. Despite the long run, neither of them were panting.

Kaisei looked distraught, running his hands through his hair until it stuck at odd angles. He kept giving her odd glances, a tense line between his brow.

"What the fuck?" Chihiro asked. What the fuck had set her boss off? What the fuck had Kaisei been doing there? What the fuck was the blast of light? What the fuck was happening to her? Because something was happening to her. And somehow, she knew without a doubt in her body, that Kaisei knew the answer.

"The next bus should take us to the base of granny's mountain," Kaisie finally said, falling onto the bench seat and hanging his head low. "We'll figure this out there."

"Figure what out?" Kaisei stayed silent. "Damnit, Sato. Something really weird just happened and I want answers!"

Kaisei looked up, the look on his face grave. A knot pitted in Chihiro's stomach. He stood up and ran a hand over his eyes. "We're going to meet my sister at the temple. I – I gotta make a phone call." Kaisei turned and headed towards the end of the platform. She could see the loss and confusion he carried with him.

Chihiro wanted to cry. She didn't know why, but she knew her life had just been swept out from under her. It was childish to believe that her life wouldn't change upon learning about demons. But she hadn't expected this. Whatever this was.

It was terrifying, not having details, not having facts, but all the same knowing that the world as she knew it had shifted and would never be the same.

* * *

Hiei followed the female spirit detective through the rift in worlds to find himself back at Genkai's temple. Kuwabara was outside already waiting for them. "Your brother called," he told the detective. "Found his friend. They should be here by midnight." He looked the two of them over. "Want to tell me what's really going on here?"

"Hiei's created a demon," Fubuki snapped.

Kuwabara snorted. "I mean, so did I, but I don't think that's what you mean."

"I created nothing," Hiei glared. "I alerted the idiotic prince of the spirit realm that this woman was a nuisance."

"You didn't have to give her all the pieces of the artifact!" Fubuki snapped.

Hiei huffed. "It was the best solution to my problem if you and Koenma weren't going to interfere. Or would you rather I killed her?"

Fubuki spun around to give him a further verbal lashing when Yukina stepped out. "Please," his sister cajoled sweetly. "No fighting. The twins have just fallen asleep."

Hiei and Fubuki sneered at each other and headed inside.

Kurama was in the living room, waiting for them all with tea. They all sat down, Hiei picking up his offered tea out of boredom. It was steaming, but still tasted lukewarm down his throat.

"We have a situation on our hands," Kurama said, leaning forward, "which is unprecedented. A human without knowledge of the workings of the Makai or Reikai has been granted powers that need to be kept in check on this world."

"How did this happen?" Kuwabara asked.

* * *

"The eye thing," Kaisei sighed, leaning his head against the window. His reflection looked just as dower as he sounded. The bus was fairly empty and Kaisei had calmed down enough to finally start spilling information. "The gold eye thing you had been putting together. Best I can understand, it figures out what kind of strength you want and it gives it to you."

It must have been why Ryuoku was so angry. The eye gave its power to her, but nothing happened to him. She could believe it. She had fainted after putting it together, after all.

"Why do you know this?" Chihiro asked, a bit afraid of the answer.

Kaisei cupped one hand in the other on his lap. Faintly, a light began to grow. Chihiro gasped. "My mom used to fight demons. We have special powers. It's my sister's job now."

"That's why I never met your family?" Chihiro said, knowing she was right.

Kaisei nodded. "I used to think it was black and white. Demons were evil. But that's not how it works. People are good, people are bad, demons are the same." He looked over at Chihiro sadly. "Naya-chan, this eye. The process of giving you whatever powers you now have. They're not like mine. This is just… energy. A part of my spirit I can manipulate. But you?" He shook his head. "The process turns humans into demons, and demons into monsters."

It felt like her lungs restricted. She didn't feel like she had powers. "What did I wish for, then?"

Kaisei looked at her as if he could pull the answer out of her eyes. "I don't know."

* * *

"And what I'm saying, is that it is my job to stop threats. She is a threat, but one we can control," Fubuki said. "We can control it by teaching her. But if I take time to step into the role of Genkai, then Koenma is out a Spirit Detective. I need to be working cases, not training fledglings."

"I have my own life," Hiei spat back. A life he did not care for. A life of monotony. A life with a broken relationship and tiresome work detail. But _his_.

"I agree with Miss Sato," Kurama said. Hiei whipped his eyes to the fox's direction. "You and I both behaved recklessly. You, for not handing the completed artifact over to Koenma, and myself for letting you give it to the human girl. We could have not predicted this outcome, but it could have been even worse. We had no way of knowing what the eye did. But anything with that kind of thrall should have been given more careful consideration than it did. That is on us. I believe it is our duty to deal with the fallout."

"You can," Hiei huffed. "I gave it to her so she would be _out_ of my hair."

"Then perhaps think of it as a reminder to not be so brash and callous with your actions," Kurama said pointedly. "This may be your lesson to take things slow and think things through. It's mine, it appears."

An icy hand placed itself gently on Hiei's forearm, causing him to startle. He looked over to his sister who had a warm smile. "This girl, she will be staying here regardless of your involvement," she said simply. "It is the safest place for her to learn her abilities. Away from the city, and away from too many demons at once. However, my children also live here. If she proves to be volatile, I would like to ask for your assistance in protecting my family."

Hiei felt frozen to the spot, the odd tingle of their body temperatures warring against their point of contact. His sister was a sly one. He wanted to yell at her for using his one weakness against him. He would never let anything happen to her. By extension, that meant her children, who were terribly vulnerable at this stage.

"I will stay but I will not train her," he finally told the room at large. Yukina squeezed his arm gently before letting go. That seemed to be enough to assuage them all.

* * *

The bus dropped them off a block away from the mountain's temple steps. They had only walked up to the shrine when Kaisei had brought her here only days ago. Now they spent the better part of the night taking the stone steps all the way up to the summit. There seemed to be a spiral path that a car could drive to reach the point, but neither of them had a car and Chihiro doubted a cab would take them.

It was a long climb, tiring given the day she had. Still, it surprised her how easy it felt. It was unnerving. Sure, Chihiro was in shape. She had to be. Her life had always depended on her ability to prove herself in combat. Even when her father kept her strung out and willing to do anything for another hit. She had to be in control in a fight when he demanded her to be, whether she was high or shaking from withdrawal. Since getting clean the last time, Chihiro has had to push herself even further to keep her position with Ryuoku cemented.

Her services for his protection.

So, Chihiro was in shape. But she shouldn't have been able to climb all these stairs without feeling winded. He thought about what Kaisei said, about the eye figuring out what kind of strength she wanted. She had never thought much about superpowers. Even as a kid, the fantasy of being able to fly or turn invisible came secondary to knowing she would be able to get away, the will to always be a step ahead of her father. The dream was about never having to worry about him.

Now she worried about herself.

The temple was quiet when they finally reached it. There was a soft glow from inside, one room in use at this late hour. "Come on," Kaisei said, nudging her. "You'll get to meet everyone. Officially."

Chihiro didn't know who she expected when he said _everyone_. His sister, for sure. He had already mentioned that. Perhaps their mom. Dad? Kaisei never talked about his father, so she didn't know if he was even in the picture. He had said something the other day about family friends living in the temple. Them, she supposed. Did they know about demons and magic glowing artifacts? Probably. Kaisei can make light pool in his hands and shoot it out like a weapon. It would make sense the people he's bringing her to can do similar.

She wasn't expecting two familiar faces. There was the three eyed demon perched on the far windowsill, but Chihiro barely spared him a glance before her eye caught the redhead who had been in her apartment. Without thinking, she drew her gun and aimed it at him.

"What is this," she demanded.

If he was one of her father's men, then this was surely a trap. But Kaisei wouldn't do that to her. Not after all his effort in getting her clean, in making sure she was safe when still in his custody. She thought Kaisei was the one person she could trust.

"Naya-chan, put the gun down," Kaisei sighed.

"He was in my house earlier," she snapped.

From the far end of the room, Chihiro noticed the three-eyed demon stir. Hiei, she remembered. She watched him come towards her. Somehow, she knew all of this was happening in the space of moment. Less time than a heartbeat, less time than a blink. All the same, she watched his entire path towards her, hand reached out for her gun. He was moving faster than lightning, faster than light, faster than she could possibly move. And yet, she did. Just a fraction. Just enough that his target was off. Just enough that as he passed, his fingers didn't make their way around the cold dense plastic weapon in her hands.

She saw his reaction as he was, for a fraction of a fraction of a moment, too slow. Hiei skidded to a halt next to Kaisei in utter bewilderment, hands empty.

Chihiro's heartbeat was ringing in her ears.

"Kurama's our friend," Kaisei said, taking what just happened in stride. "I called him before I even found you. Told him to meet us here."

She pursed her lips but took in the room. Everyone was wary of her, on edge. But she was tired, and she trusted Kaisei. She wanted to trust these people too. She flipped the safety on and tucked the gun back into her side holster. Chihiro felt like there was something stuck in her throat. If she weren't so stubborn there might even be tears in her eyes. From everything Kaisei had told her, there was only one reason to take her so far away from the city.

"So what are you going to do with me?"

* * *

Kurama had suggest they all retire for the night, and discuss things in the morning. It was late and their newest guest looked on the verge of hysterics. Kaisei stayed by her side as they prepared for bed and the rest remained talking for a bit longer.

"Did you see the way she moved?" Kurama asked, still amazed now that he had the chance to focus on it. "It wasn't speed, it was as if she already knew where you were going."

Hiei huffed. He had been able to steal her bag off her before. "Perhaps it's her new demonic powers," he scoffed.

Kurama hummed. "There was something familiar about her energy, but I can't quite place it."

"Kind of reminds me of the shrimp's," Kuwabara mused, rubbing a finger under his nose. "That bitter energy that peppers your normal one."

Everyone turned to Kuwabara in confusion.

"What?" He asked, looking around. "Don't look at me like that. I ain't crazy. The shrimp's got more than one energy flavor."

"Flavor?" Kurama asked, unsure. Energies never had flavors to him. Power levels, yes. And you could always feel if someone wasn't quite stable. But flavors?

Kuwabara nodded. "Yeah. Like, the shrimps a fire demon and he's speedy. That's his normal flavor. Like charcoal or something on my tongue and his aura's a blackish blue color. Ask Shizuru."

"And this bitter peppering?" Kurama continued.

Kuwabara shrugged. "I think it's the eye, since it's a transplant. I don't normally feel it, but I remember when he first used that dragon technique. He could only do that 'cause of the eye, right? So, I assumed that's why."

"Interesting theory," Kurama said, mulling the new information over. He turned to Hiei who had been oddly silent. His friend may seem antisocial and quiet, but he was actually quite vocal in his displeasures. He looked ready to grind his teeth to dust. "Perhaps it is best, Hiei, that you are here to keep an eye on her. No pun intended, of course. But if your energy signatures are similar, then it might help us discover what exactly we're dealing with."

Hiei shot him a glare and then darted out the room, no doubt needing time to think. He wasn't going to abandon them now. That was for sure. Besides, Hiei had been coming to the human realm a lot recently. Kurama had to wonder that he didn't _want_ to be here.

They would see, he supposed.

* * *

Chihiro curled up next to Kaisei, thankful for something familiar in this strange situation. All pretenses of earlier fights were gone. She was scared and he knew it. That was the most vulnerable she had ever let herself be before.

"What's going to happen to me?" Chihiro whispered into the dark space between them. She could feel Kaisei shrug.

"They're good people," he told her. "We'll figure this out together."

Chihiro nodded. Then, carefully, leaned in. Their lips touched for the briefest of moments before Kaisei was pulling away with a sigh.

"Naya," he pleaded.

"What?"

"You're my best friend," he said, finding her hand and linking their fingers. "And yeah, we sleep together. But I've always known." He let out a frustrated huff of air. It tickled Chihiro's face. "You don't love me. Not the way I want you to."

"Kaisei."

"No, let me finish." He squeezed her hand and brought it up to his face. He kissed her palm and rested it on his cheek. "You're scared right now. And I know we seek each other out for comfort, but this feels different." He let go of her hand.

She left it there for a moment before pulling it back towards her chest. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't know you liked me like that."

Kaisei laughed faintly. "I know. And it's okay. I just don't want you attaching yourself to me because I'm familiar right now."

Chihiro buried her head into Kaisei's chest. "You're my best friend, too," she told him. "I would be with you if I loved you that way." It was true. She could see it, an easy pull between them. Friends and lovers. But there's something missing that isn't just friendship and isn't just sex. An elusive element of love that connected people with each other. They just didn't share it.

Kaisei kissed the top of her forehead. "I know, Chi, I know. And I'd rather us be good friends than have you play at loving me."

She wanted to cry, but no tears came. She knew whatever intimacy they shared between them had to stop. It felt like an ending she hadn't realized was coming. Like the words just stopped in the middle of the book. Her story had changed.


	6. Jaganshi

_Hiei of the Thousand Eyes_

Chapter Six: Jaganshi

* * *

Kurama's fingers twitched in an aborted move for a seed in his hair when he finally saw Yusuke. He had only been back in the Makai for a few weeks since leaving Kuwabara's residence. By all accounts, he was not well off when he left, but he could not have been this.

Yusuke looked half-starved and delirious. His body was beaten and not healing as if he had just completed the toughest fight of his life. He sat under a waterfall and let it suffer more abuse.

"My lord has been going through stamina training," the attendent who guided Kurama explained. "He and Hokushin are preparing him for the next Makai tournament."

Kurama frowned. This was not fitting. Yusuke was brash and often reckless, and while he would train for a cause, Kurama couldn't believe Yusuke would subject himself to this type of abuse for anyone other than Genkai.

"My lord wishes to become the next King," the attendant explained.

"Your lord can speak for himself," Kurama said with a wave of dismissal. He was welcomed enough by Yusuke's following, known as a close friend, and was treated with such respect. The attendant bowed and backed away, although they weren't left completely alone.

"Yusuke?" Kurama prodded over the roar of the waterfall. He itched for a seed again, a plant he could grow and turn into a medicine of some sort, but it would put Yusuke to sleep and Kurama needed to speak with him.

Yusuke peaked an eye open before returning to his meditation. "Whaddya want?"

"Can you step outside of the waterfall, please? Just for a moment."

Yusuke sighed deeply but stood, muscles straining with the effort of such a simple task. They walked a bit further down the water's edge and away from the deafening noise. "Must be important if you're back down here."

Kurama gave a perfunctory nod. "There's been an incident, I'm afraid. Nothing that requires your direct attention, but I would like to share with you the details of the matter."

Yusuke grunted. Kurama took that as a sign to continue. "There's been a human girl who collected the scattered remains of a lost artifact. It's power, once restored, turned her into a demon. That is being taken care of. She is nothing more than a scared child, really, although she puts up a good front. What concerns us is that Fubuki went to retrieve the artifact and it was missing. There's no energy signature to it, since it gave Naya-san a power. It appears the Eye of Solomon is in hibernation until next year. If it is in the wrong hands when it activates again, it could lead to disaster."

"So what do you want from me?" Yusuke asked, swaying a bit on his feet.

Kurama shook his head. He finally reached for the medicine seed and let it bloom between his hands. "Do not harm yourself in pursuit of forgetting," Kurama advised his friend. "We may need you in the future. But please, keep an eye out for the Eye of Solomon." He handed over the flower bloom. "Take care, Yusuke."

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the flower, you stupid fox."

Kurama had more to report, but Yusuke was not in the frame of mind to listen. He took what he could in making sure that the hanyou's training didn't kill him.

* * *

Botan strapped something that looked like a blood pressure cuff around Chihiro's arms and pressed a button with that annoying cheerful grin of hers.

"Do I even have blood pressure?" Chihiro asked. "I thought my heart didn't work anymore."

"Oh! Well, technically you do have blood pressure. It's extremely high! But, it is supposed to be," Botan cheered. Chihiro felt it getting even higher from Botan's voice alone. "However, this handy dandy contraption is the latest technology from Spirit World! It's going to help us figure out what type of demon you are."

Chihiro clenched her jaw as the cuff started to tighten. She was slowly adjusting to the idea that this was her life now, but she wasn't happy about it. A demon. She'd spent a week at the temple so far and most of the others were gone. The only people left were the family that lived here and surprisingly Hiei, despite his attitude that he'd rather be anywhere else. Even Kaisei had abandoned her. Other responsibilities, he quoted. Chihiro wondered if he just needed time away from her.

Botan, however, kept popping in. Ever since word went back to this Koenma fellow, she'd been assigned to the case. Which at current meant determining Chihiro's demon race.

Soon the pressure of the cuff eased up and Botan stared at the jibberish calculations in thought.

"So?" Kuwabara asked, leaning over Botan's shoulder. "What's it say?"

"Hmmmmm, it's very interesting," Botan said, her voice turning serious for a moment. Then like whiplash she perked back up. "I have no idea!" Botan jumped to her feet and summoned her oar. "I'll have to confer with Koenma on this one! I'll be back in a jiffy." She waved goodbye and began to fly away.

Chihiro ripped the forgotten cuff off her arm and threw it across the porch. It had been a week. A week, and all they knew was that her heart had stopped beating but she wasn't dead. Other than the one time she out maneuvered Hiei, nothing else had happened. No blazing aura, no sudden powers, no change in appearance. Chihiro wouldn't even believe them if it weren't for the fact she couldn't feel her own heartbeat anymore.

She looked up and over to the tree where Hiei was lounging. He was supposed to help train her, apparently. A punishment for letting her complete the puzzle. All he did was hurl insults her way without ever speaking with her directly.

"Fuck this," Chihiro snapped, heading back to the room they had made up for her. She was going home. Nothing happened. She may be a demon, but she wasn't anything special. She didn't need to be here. Chihiro had grabbed all her things (a duffle full of clothes and toiletries Kaiei had gone back to her apartment to get for her) when she was caught.

There was no indication that he was there, and yet Chihiro knew that when she turned around Hiei would be standing in the doorway.

"You care enough to stop me?" she scoffed. He, typically, didn't respond. Chihiro slung her bag over her shoulder and grabbed her swords off the dresser. She turned to face the red eyed demon. He'd gone back to tying a band around his third eye and kept a heavy cloak, even inside. "You don't want me here. Nobody knows shit. I'll come back if I start accidentally killing people, or whatever it is you're worried about, but I have a life to get back to."

She was prepared to push past him, but was stopped in her tracks when Hiei for the first time addressed her directly.

"You never had a life."

Chihiro blinked in surprise. Rage swelled up inside her. "Excuse me?"

"I've seen what you call a life. It's been nothing but fear and running. You have nothing to go back to because there's nothing you've ever cared enough about to fight for."

Chihiro wanted to protest, but she couldn't. He was right. What was waiting for her? Ryuoko's gang that probably had a bounty on her head. An apartment where none of her neighbors knew her real name. No job. No friends other than Kaisei and at best Risa. Her father. If Chihiro went back, she would be hunted down and either killed or recruited and neither option sounded good.

"Fuck." She tossed her short blades back onto her bed and dropped her bag. "Fuck!" Her rage burst through and she swung a fist towards the wall. A hand caught her mid swing, strong enough without effort to stop her full motion. Her full body shook as she stared into Hiei's eyes and for the first time truly thought he was dangerous.

"Do not wreck this house," he commanded.

"Let go."

Hiei squeezed against her knuckles. She could feel the strain on her bones and grit her teeth to keep from crying out.

"You're a nuisance," he spat before dropping her hand.

Chihiro held it close to her body. "Then why didn't you just let me leave to my death?"

Hiei flicked his eyes her way as he walked out the door, seemingly bored by the interaction. He didn't say a word, and yet Chihiro felt as if she knew the answer. She had only traded one prison for another.

* * *

Hiei did another patrol of the compound. There were many demons living within the sanctuary of the mountain, but they were weaklings and cowards not likely to venture too close to the temple. Still, he was here and his only kin was otherwise left to the protection of that buffoon.

The girl didn't seem like a danger, yet. She knew her way around her weapons but hadn't handled them as a threat since her first entrance. Still, he didn't like the way she moved. Not the first night when she dodged him. Not the way her eyes always found him without trying, no matter where he stood. Not the way she almost seemed to know things before they happened whether it was catching a plate Yukina dropped or when her friend was going to leave again after brining back her things.

He didn't like it. But so far, she was harmless.

Hiei could feel Boton flying down before she was anywhere near in sight. Surely her quick trip to the reikai was only to confer with Koenma before giving them any real information. Typical. They claimed demons to be selfish, but they hoarded information like the darkest of them.

"Hiei!" she called out, voice shrill. Hiei had never liked her. He refused to look her way until she jumped off her oar and onto the branch next to him. "I need to request something of you." He knew she was serious, but he couldn't help but glare. What right did she have to make any requests. "Since you're here instead of doing your duty in the Makai, and the situation has changed somewhat, we asked if, instead of serving your time to the current King due to your application into the tournament –"

"Spit it out, woman," Hiei snapped. She was the most annoying babbler.

Botan laughed nervously. "It's the girl. We need you to protect her. Training or not, she could be in trouble."

"Why is that my problem?"

"Because you're transferring from the border patrol to Chihiro Naya protection force!" Botan declared.

From the porch Hiei could feel the girl's eyes on him. "What about me?"

Botan flailed so hard she almost fell out of the tree. It would have been amusing. On the ground, Chihiro snorted.

"Perhaps it is best I tell you both at once. Let's have some tea, shall we?"

Botan summoned her oar and floated down the ground. It was going to be a long day.

Once they were all situated around the kitchen table, Botan began to nervously explain the situation. "You see," she began, twisting a strand of her blue hair like a wet sponge, "we have determined the type of demon Chihiro has turned into thanks to the power of the Eye of Solomon."

"And?" the girl asked. She seemed calm, posture set, eyes focused, but her forefinger was shaking just the slightest as it hovered against the side of her teacup. The girl had many tells, Hiei had observed over the past few weeks. All of them were so subtle only someone as sharp as Hiei would spot them so quickly. He briefly wondered where she had learned to suppress her emotion so that her only sign of nerves was the barest hint of a shake in a single finger.

Botan looked at him, wringing her hair like a foolish school girl afraid to be reprimanded. She turned back to the girl. "You see, in the Makai there is a tournament to decide the ruler. It happens every three years or so. Once it's been shorter because a king war particularly unpopular. It's fairly new, but it seems to be holding steadily."

The girl nodded, unsure what the non sequitur was about.

"Part of the rules of that tournament states that anyone who enters and doesn't win must serve the King during his reign. Hiei is supposed to be serving border patrol right now, but instead we have made a deal that he can look after you." For a moment Botan forgot her fears and spoke with all her nagging force directly to him. "We were going to do this regardless, because Hiei should take responsibility for giving you the artifact." Hiei glared back and she immediately backed off, although she finally stopped wringing her hair. "The fact is, it turns out Hiei is the best person to look after you and perhaps teach you, because of what you are," she told Chihiro.

"And what am I?" the girl prodded, annoyed at the delay in explanation.

Botan pouted but then shifted her eyes back to Hiei. "She's a Jaganshi."

Hiei blinked, surprised. The girl wasn't the master of anything, let alone the eye he had taken years to control.

"Not in the sense that you know," Botan continued. "The race was wiped out long ago. Hunted down for their eyes."

The gravity of what the reaper was trying to tell him clicked. He looked over to the girl, who was still lost, not knowing what a Jaganshi was. The eye in his forehead, that he trained so hard to obtain and harder still to wield, was taken from someone else. It had to, eyes weren't just fabricated.

This girl, with the help of the artifact she puzzled together, was now a creature that would be hunted if anyone learned of her existence. Unless she learned how to defend herself, the guilty conscious of Koenma would never let Hiei off his post. He sounded his displeasure with a heavy tsk. She was going to be the bane of his existence for a long while.

"She hasn't shown any signs," he protested weakly, searching for anyway out of this.

"The change will come," Botan assured him. "It's only a matter of time."

"Are either of you going to clue me into what you're fucking talking about?" Chihiro snapped.

* * *

Chihiro tried her best to not be affected but all this weirdness was getting to her. It was one thing to learn about this world beyond her own. Demons and spirits and magic golden stones were one thing. Becoming something other than herself was another. For the first time since putting the artifact shards together, she felt like maybe that was true.

After Botan explained further what a Jaganshi demon was, Chihiro quickly put things together. How she moved out of Hiei's path that first night in the temple, of how she could always find who she needed in the temple without try. Her eyes could find Hiei in the tree line in a mere moment. She hadn't sprouted a thousand eyes across her body, such as was Botan's description, but it was always as if she knew things before she saw them. It was the only way to explain how she made it out of Ryuoku's back room alive.

It was the only way to explain how she put it all together so fast.

The more Botan had explained about how their eyes held different features, the more it made sense that she was slowly adapting to the myriad of powers. Her heart had already blasted wide open. She had no heartbeat, no pulse, blood coursed through her veins at a speed they couldn't otherwise track. And her eyes would one day see everything.

"My father was always ten steps ahead of me," she whispered after Botan had gone silent. "All I wanted was to never be caught off guard by him again."

Hiei looked at her strangely and she frowned. Eyes for sight, eyes for searching, eyes for telepathy, eyes for summoning. Hiei had all these powers, Botan had explained, from the single eye on his forehead that had long ago been taken from one of her kind.

Chihiro briefly thought that she didn't have a kind. She was born human. She was made. Modeled after a long dead race. There was none of her kind.

"If Hiei can help you unlock how your new powers work, you'll learn all those same things and more."

She looked at him and he at her and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was a mistake.


	7. Strain

_Hiei of the Thousand Eyes_

Chapter Seven: Strain

* * *

Kurama returned home from a long day of being Shuichi. It was a task that no longer felt like a dual life, but he still enjoyed stepping through the threshold of his house and relaxing into old truths. He made it home in time for dinner with his wife and son, which wasn't always the case. Shizuru, her knowing eyes, kept glancing at him during dinner. They would be talking after getting Ittoku to bed.

His son had started pre-school only a few weeks ago. He chatted animatedly about his classmates and what he had learned that day. He still seemed excited to be attending. Ittoku had both his mother's sharp instincts and Kurama's own analytical brain. Their son would be bored soon enough with school and, unlike Shuichi Minamino, Ittoku did not have a role to play other than himself. The child had such a desire to learn, but that could be lost when unchallenged.

He watched his boy fondly as he waved his chopsticks between bites, telling a story of a boy from class. All the things to worry about and it was the simple human fear of not knowing how to raise a child so smart. Shizuru and himself had long been on watch for a manifestation of spiritual energy. Perhaps Kurama should fear when Ittoku learned of his powers, if he wanted to learn to fight or train with his uncle Kazuma. Somehow, the challenges of training him seemed much less daunting than raising him. Kurama had experience in the former.

When Ittoku was finally tucked in for the night, story read and forehead kissed, Kurama joined Shizuru on the back porch and waited for her to speak. He didn't even comment on the cigarette between her lips that he found so distasteful.

"My brother says that girl you brought to the temple is the type of demon Hiei took an eye from."

Kurama nodded. "Yes, Botan told me. The Jaganshi had been extinct for a nigh millennium. Not all demons fall into such distinct homogenous species like them or the Korime, or Mazoku. Even Kitsune like myself fall into thirteen different categories. Demons are a phylum unto ourselves, separate from anything else within the human world animal kingdom. And yet it seems no matter how much further we distinguish ourselves between class and order and family and genus and species, demons can somehow still reproduce with each other, and many with humans as well. It's quite fascinating."

"You're getting off topic," Shizuru interrupted, blowing a stream of smoke into Kurama's face.

Kurama sighed. "What exactly is it you wish to discuss?" Shizuru didn't care about the biological hierarchy of demons, nor did she care about the history of the Jaganshi. His wife was more grounded than anyone else he had ever known. She only focused on what was practical and cut straight to the heart of matters as simply as one would blink. He loved her for it.

"They all died out because they were hunted down for their eyes, right? And she got her demonhood as a magic wish from that golden crystal?"

"In a sense," Kurama agreed.

"That thing the girl put together. She was doing it for a yakuza boss. Despite Yusuke's and Fubuki's actions, there's always going to be a ring of black market dealers for rare and powerful things not of this world." She tapped out the butt of her cigarette, a clump of ash falling to the ground. "Now this girl is a walking diamond both rich asshole humans and power hungry demons will be lusting after, bringing more attention to the temple, to Yukina, the twins, my brother, to _us._ "

Kurama gently pulled the cigarette from her fingers and dropped it to the ground before stomping the embers out. He wrapped his arms around her, one hand cradling the base of her head as she tucked her face into the crook of his neck. "No one will harm our son," Kurama whispered fiercely. "No one will harm you. I will reclaim my role as Yoko before I let that happen."

Shizuru grabbed tight onto his shirt, holding him closer. She took a deep breath and Kurama knew she was trying not to cry. Kurama kissed the top of her head and gently rocked her back and forth.

"You know," she said softly against his collar, "I used to hate roses."

He smiled gently. "Ah, yes. I remember you telling me to be more creative and that just because I could grow a bouquet out of my hair didn't mean I should get you daisies instead."

Shizuru huffed a wet laugh. Kurama had come back two days later with a steaming to-go cup of coffee and the promise of a trip to view a private collection of first editions and drafts Fumiko Enchi's work. She had sipped the coffee with a calculated look before telling him Enchi wasn't her favorite author but she wasn't displeased by the prospect.

"No matter what, you always smell like roses," Shizuru commented, her voice nearly disappearing into the folds of his shirt. "Gaudy as they may be, I don't think I could ever hate them now."

* * *

Hiei relented to watching the human girl, no, the _former_ human girl. He cursed the irony of this assignment. He had only brought the girl to Koenma's attention and given her the shards of the Eye of Solomon to rid her from his presence. Now he was stuck playing babysitter and bodyguard.

There were other Jagan users in the Makai, but none they could _trust._ Hiei nearly spat at the word. It wasn't trust, it was manipulation. With Yukina at the temple, he had no other choice but to make sure she was safe. He'd thought about just killing Chihiro and be done with it. Eliminate her as a potential threat and any other threats that would come after her. It didn't count as meddling with the humans anymore because she wasn't human.

However, it seemed any time he thought of the deed, Yukina would call to their mental link and remind him to behave. Although mental communication was a latent ability of the Korime, Hiei sometimes wondered at the timing of his sister. She couldn't read minds, but it was almost as if the world worked out in her favor when it came to the two of them.

Chihiro was supposed to be meditating. By transforming into this demon, she had skipped the physical training otherwise needed to make such a powerful adjustment to the body. Botan suggested the reason she hadn't actually manifested those so called abilities was due to lack of mental discipline, never having been spiritually aware as a human.

Chihiro was, of course, not meditating.

In the past few days, he would find her around this time at the dojo. She would practice with her double blades in a fashion that was far superior than Kuwabara's still wild attempts and swinging a sword like a bat. Her mastery was only at a mid-human level, though. She didn't have the speed to yet compete with demons.

Today, however, Hiei found her leaning against the open doorway of the nursery. Hiko and Kazuyo were napping in their cribs and Chihiro had a look on her face that read both repulsed and afraid.

"They're so helpless," she muttered as he approached.

"When I was that age, I was thrown off a mountain and survived. I think they'll be fine. Although the boy does have that lumbering oaf's bloodline."

He could feel Chihiro's eyes on him. When he turned, her expression was caught somewhere between disbelief and disgust.

"No wonder you're fucked up," she said before pushing off the wall and heading towards the dojo.

"It's the nature of the Makai," Hiei informed her. "And you better well get used to it. You don't belong among these mortals anymore."

"Why not?" she scoffed. "Yukina lives here. Kurama lives here. Complain all you want, even you don't seem too keen to be going back to the land of demons any time soon." Chihiro pushed open the dojo doors and kicked off her house shoes.

"Don't misjudge," he said, "I'm stuck here until either you're capable enough to defend yourself or I win the Makai tournament and disband myself from these duties."

She snorted as she began her stretches. "And yet, you don't seem to be trying very hard to train me, like you were told to do."

He sneered and looked away. Hiei had once helped Kurama train Kuwabara in preparation for the Dark Tournament. That was the last time he helped someone weaker than himself. He didn't want to repeat the process. She was by all means a fledgling and had no real drive to gain the strength to survive in this or any of the worlds. "Perhaps I should just slice your skin where an eye is likely to be. We might make more progress."

When Chihiro didn't respond, Hiei grew impatient. There were other places on Genkai's land far better suited for training than the dojo, and he had to stay at his peak for the next tournament.

* * *

Fubuki walked into the bar with an air of superiority, her nose in the air to the degenerates and demons who frequented the joint. Kaisei sighed into his bourbon. She would come find him here instead of just calling. As the sting of his drink raced down his throat, he mulled over how distant they had become since he quit the role of Spirit Detective with her. Almost ten years, maybe, and they had turned into such different people. One would hardly be able to tell that they were twins.

She took the seat next to him at the bar and crossed her arms. "What do you know about the gang your friend is in?"

Kaisei swirled his drink, staring at the golden brown liquid like it would give him a reason to leave. "Which one?"

"Don't be smart with me, Kai. Her boss that wanted the Eye of Solomon. I need to know everything about him. His operation. His interest in the artifact. I need to know where he learned about it and who he bought it from."

"Why don't you ask Chihiro? I'm sure you know where to find her." Kaisei was bitter about leaving her up at the temple alone. He liked Kuwabara well enough and Yukina was probably a calming presence Chihiro would benefit from, but it didn't sit right to abandon her during such a drastic change.

Kurama had been the one to convince him it would be best for Chihiro to have as few distractions as possible. The obvious bleed of feelings Kaisei had for his friend would have been an unnecessary layer of complications for Chihiro to deal with at the moment. Somehow, Kaisei couldn't shake the feeling it was really his sister who hadn't wanted him near the case. He had chosen to distance from the drama of the spirit and demon worlds, so she made sure he stayed away.

"This is important work, Kaisei. Just because you don't care anymore doesn't mean –"

"Don't tell me I don't care," he spat out. "I'm closer to this than you are. All you _care_ about it punching things into submission. Don't hate me for wanting a life."

Fubuki scoffed. "And what a life it is. You gamble and street fight with people who could never actually compete with you. Do you have a job? Friends? Hobbies other than drinking in bars in the slums?"

Kaisei had to be careful he didn't break the glass in his hands. "I do have a job, actually," he told his sister. "Not that you'd ever cared to ask before now. And friends. The closest currently going through something very traumatic without me." He glared his sister down before knocking back the rest of his bourbon. "You want to know what's going on? Chihiro sought asylum with the White Claw gang after her dad got arrested and sent to prison. She's been working under a boss named Ryuoku, but I'm sure you already know that. I don't know where he learned about the item. I didn't even know it was demonic or spiritual or whatever until the change happened."

She stared at him for a few passing beats. "You don't want to be helpful, fine. I've been carrying on by myself for years."

He reached out and grabbed her forearm as she got up to leave. "I'm telling you all I know, Fubuki. Chihiro did what she could to survive and is now holed up with strangers on a mountain while two prominent gangs look for her. As for the missing artifact? I've got nothing. You're going to have to go to Ryuoku to learn anything."

She tore her arm away. Their eyes were locked and Kaisei counted the breaths between them. He hated that it was so difficult to talk to her now. He hated the chasm between them that only seemed to grow with time.

For a moment, he honestly thought she might sit back down, ask him what his job was, how he'd been getting on all this time. But she shook her head and backed away and left the bar. Kaisei ordered another bourbon.

* * *

Chihiro grasped at her forehead with a yell. It hurt, like her skin was on fire. She gasped and opened her eyes, willing the pain away. Hiei watched her from across the room and scoffed.

"It's a wonder the transformation didn't kill you," he mocked in the undercut disinterested tone he always used.

"Didn't it, though?" Chihiro objected flatly. She was tired of his attitude. Half the days he didn't even bother to show up, but when he did Hiei always acted so superior. It reminded her of the bosses she had dealt with all her life, those who traded with her father and with Ryuoku. Any position of power meant they no longer had to care about those beneath them. It pissed her off.

Chihiro stood from her spot on the porch where she had been attempting to meditate and headed inside. It was high noon and Yukina probably needed help with preparing lunch. "I thought you said the third eye should be easy."

"I said it should be natural," he retorted, following her like a shadow. It had become habit over the last week of this so called training. "There is nothing easy about becoming stronger."

Without the distraction of the club or Ryuoku or even Kaisei, Chihiro went back the routines she developed after getting clean. She woke up early, stretched for a half hour, jogged down and back up the steps to the temple in lieu of a couple of miles around the city, and then did weapons for another hour or two. There was a full dojo setup that she had access to. So far she had only been using her short swords and running routines against dummies, but there were other weapons on the wall that she wanted to try.

Eventually, Hiei would find her, tell her that her form was terrible and that she should be focusing on controlling her energy instead of wasting her time on a practice she would never master.

"Like I'm ever going to master this stupid eye thing either," she had snapped at him that morning. Chihiro could only stand meditating for an hour before she started to go crazy. Chihiro had never been a patient person. She got twitchy and paranoid when she was still for too long, when she couldn't be observing her surroundings.

Then, when Chihiro inevitably gave up, Hiei would nag her until she relented and tried again.

Today was different in only one manner. She hadn't given up because she wasn't making progress. She had given up because she _was_. Something had happened. Her forehead still stung like a tattoo gun was piercing the skin across her brow, an entire line at once and never stopping. She rubbed at the spot on her forehead again, taking a deep breath.

"Too bad Genkai isn't still around," Kuwabara said when they walked by. It was the weekend and he was home from work, but he had been hearing complaints about the slow going all week. "Like, I'm technically a master psychic and stuff, but no one could teach like Genkai."

"Hn, even Genkai couldn't train this one," Hiei said, snatching the peach out of Kuwabara's hand.

"Hey!" Kuwabara yelled. "Give that back you runt."

"I'm glad I'm stuck trying to learn from two idiots who don't know how to teach," Chihiro complained, continuing on into the kitchen. "The only thing I've learned since coming here is how to change a diaper."

She hadn't been too thrilled about that. Babies weren't exactly Chihiro's thing. Neither was sacks of shit.

"For which I am very grateful," Yukina smiled from her spot at the counter. She was chopping vegetables for a stew. "Did you wish to help with preparing the food?"

Chihiro nodded. "Yeah, I – " the words caught in her throat. It felt as if someone had punched the air out of her lungs as searing pain laced her forehead. She crumpled to her knees as her sight blurred with sudden tears.

It was like a vision, a dream eclipsing the reality around her. The kitchen faded behind the wall of tears, although she could still hear Yukina calling her name and Kuwabara freaking out. Instead, Chihiro saw her father. She wasn't sure how she knew, although that sensation was starting to become familiar, but in the scant seconds Chihiro watched her father two things became certain. One was that he had found out where she was. Two was that he was coming here.

The vision faded and Chihiro found herself dry heaving over the kitchen tile. Her hands and knees pressed hard into the cold flooring and her head spun as her sight came back into focus.

"What the fuck was that?"


	8. Vestiges

_Hiei of the Thousand Eyes_

Chapter Eight: Vestiges

* * *

Yukina placed a frozen touch on his forearm and Hiei was pulled back from his thoughts. His sister smiled softly, the same look she always gave him when asking for something. Her eyes were harder than normal and Hiei had to smirk at how powerful her gentle actions were.

"You have to start taking this seriously, brother," she told him. "I am thankful for your presence here. You were gone for years and I am happy to see you. But this is not a vacation. I know you to be restless. Training Chihiro is an opportunity to calm yourself."

"She's a weakling," he spat, rolling his eyes as he stepped away from the cold of her hand. "And she doesn't have the care to be stronger."

Yukina's smile vanished and Hiei hated himself for upsetting her. Still, he couldn't understand why this was so important.

"You're correct, Hiei," Yukina said. "She is weak. And she is a target. One that Koenma would like to keep safe. But more importantly," she started. Yukina looked back over to the strange former human who sat on the porch steps and stared at the woods. "I know what it's like to be alone and afraid." Yukina turned her eyes back on Hiei, a frown etched in her features. "To be caught in a situation where you are forced to rely on others, even trust them. I know you have, too."

Hiei turned his head with a _tsk._ He hated remembering his youth, cast aside by his kin and then again by the first to take him in. Hiei had learned quick to rely only on himself. He loathed to admit he was thankful of the fox's friendship. Then Yusuke's and even the oaf's. Despite the distance he still kept, he cherished his sister and every moment they shared. These relations no longer felt like weakness. It was now proof of his strength that he could be who he was and yet maintain them. Still, it was difficult to be reminded of who he once was: alone and at his most vulnerable.

"I was lucky enough to have found you and Kazuma and the others," Yukina continued. "I hope to say she was lucky enough to have found us as well."

Chihiro set her glass down and stood, the tremor in her finger stronger than before. "I'm going to take a walk, clear my head."

"Chihiro, please stay," Yukina said, turning to stop the girl.

"I'm fine," Chihiro said, ignoring Yukina.

Yukina was about to protest again when Kuwabara stepped out, holding onto their wailing son. "Sorry, Yukina. I can't get him to settle down." Yukina raced over to calm Hiko and Chihiro slipped away.

Hiei thought of letting her go. She was obviously spooked enough to need to clear her head, but at the same time he had learned to take the advice of his sister. This girl was in need of someone good to guide her. Not himself, obviously, but he was being forced into that role.

"I'll be back," he told his sister, before following after Chihiro.

The girl had gotten faster. She had already made it to the shrine halfway down the temple, although she had stopped there. Chihiro paced back and forth a few times before sitting on the steps. Hiei watched her from his spot in the trees, wondering how he should talk to her. He communicated best through fighting. When it came to conversations, this girl was as abrasive as Yusuke but without anything interesting about her. Unless you could count her turning into the very type of demon he had taken his greatest powers from.

She seemed to be waiting for something. Perhaps for him to jump down and join her. Chihiro had an uncanny ability to always know where he was. Then he sensed it, the humans approaching. They were just humans, nothing remotely special. Calmly sans the tremor in her finger, Chihiro stood and waited for the newcomers.

For the first time since her transformation, Hiei wished he could read her mind. Somehow her new set of eyes has given the girl the ability to keep his Jagan out. When the men arrived, Hiei didn't need that power to realize what it was that Chihiro was so afraid of. She told him herself.

"Father."

The leader of the small group smiled, a sickly grin that Hiei likened to the lowest scum. This was a man who thought he was clever for getting away with all his misdeeds. This was the man who Chihiro was afraid of, that caused the tremor in her finger. He was curious what she would do.

"I'm upset, Chi-chi. You weren't there to welcome me home."

"And yet you found me anyway," she called out with false cheer. Hiei didn't need his Jagan to feel her rage spill out from beneath the words she spoke.

"It was surprised. You managed to slip the eye I had on you during that fight at White Claw's club. That friend of yours, the brat from high school, came by your place and brought some of your things here, though," he smiled. "I'll have to give him my regards for leading me straight to you."

"Leave him alone."

"Your weak spot always has been easy to find," Chihiro's father gloated.

Hiei wondered if this was true. The boy didn't seem to him a weak spot. Her humanity still ailed her like a passing cold and her lack of patience in her training caused her to quit more often than push forward. Still, Chihiro seemed to have little care over people and things. Even her attachment to the Spirit Detective's twin wasn't so strong that she should feel threatened by this man. Especially now that she knows just how strong Kaisei is compared to the humans.

"So has yours," Chihiro replied. "Why come after me?"

Chihiro's father reached a hand up. It would have been imperceptible to any eye but Hiei's, the way Chihiro pulled one of her half swords and had it pressed against the older man's fingers. She moved before he did.

The edge of her blade dug into her father's skin creating a well of blood. He merely laughed.

"Don't touch me," she said, voice low and dangerous. For the first time Hiei saw in her someone who could be worthy of the power she had been bestowed.

"You always were the obstinate one," he grinned, pulling his hand away and waving off his henchmen that had pulled guns. "I want you to come back, Chi-chi. I want you to work for me. You've grown into quite the striking woman. You'd be able to sway favors and crush hearts so easily."

"You have no idea what I've turned into," she spat. "You can't have me. My friend can take care of himself. You've got no leverage here."

Her father brought his bleeding hand to his lips and licked away the blood like it was sweet nectar. "My sweet Chi-chi," he purred. "Did you really think I'd come here with nothing but vague threats?" He leaned in close, whispering words so softly even Hiei's ears couldn't catch them.

Chihiro's muscles tensed and she lowered her blade. "You're lying." All her rage had been replaced with sheer terror.

"What do I have to lie about?" he countered.

Chihiro shook her head and took a definitive step back. "No," she said, voice steady. "You can't mess with my head anymore. I know when you're lying. And you're _lying_."

Hiei smirked. Chihiro was a brat but she was sharp. Whatever this man said may have tricked her when she was still human, still capable of second guessing reality and being swayed by fears. She may not have control over her powers yet, but she could hear his lie as instinctually as she could find Hiei in the trees.

Chihiro sensed it the same moment Hiei did. Her father sneered and his henchman's gun came back up. Chihiro was proving herself to be smart, trusting her new talents even though she could not control of understand them. Still, other than the one time she managed to avoid Hiei out of fear and desperation, her speed was lacking even compared to these puny humans.

Hiei leaped forward and relieved the men of their guns before any of them had time to see him. He settled onto his feet a few steps behind Chihiro and spun one of the metal contraptions around his finger, the rest in a pile further back. "I never liked guns," he said. "They make decent long range attacks, but leave you without a form of defense if someone can get close enough." He didn't bother looking at the men as he talked. Hiei handed the gun over to Chihiro. "Here. You use them, don't you?"

When he reached her eye, she wasn't surprised to see him. She had known he was watching, of course. But she did seem taken aback by his presence. He pressed the cool metal into her empty hand. "Either take care of them or leave with them. I don't care which."

"Who's your new bodyguard?" Chihiro's father asked with a slimy grin.

Hiei only looked at him briefly, enough to confirm he wasn't making a move to attack. "You can still get away with killing them, being new and all that. I, unfortunately, have to follow a code."

Chihiro searched his gaze. He wondered, briefly, what for. He was honest with his words. He was not Kurama, living behind sweet worded half truths. Nor was he the Sato boy who had been hiding his double life from her for years.

Chihiro took the gun and turned to her father. "I'm not going to kill you," she said. "You're not worth the energy of disposing the bodies. You have nothing over me anymore. I'm not your daughter anymore. Don't come after me again."

Hiei should have expected as much. She could be loud and abrasive, but she was weak to her past. Her father's gaze had hardened, although that slimy smile still graced his lips. Then Chihiro did do something that surprised them both. She handed her father the gun.

"Go play mob boss with someone else," she told him before turning her back.

It was a powerplay to turn your back to the enemy so boldly. If he chose to shoot her then, the only thing protecting her would be Hiei. She had to bet on either him caring enough to do so, or her father being intimidated enough already by his first show of speed.

Hiei smirked and raced back up the mountain.

"Where's Chihiro?" Yukina asked, concern etched across her features as she still attempted to calm her crying son.

"She'll be back," he said with confidence.

* * *

Chihiro felt as if electricity were coursing through her veins. Her heart no longer had a beat so she could not feel it race in fear. The new sensation of her body reacting to seeing her father, _turning her back on her father_ , was so foreign. It was the first time, despite everything else, that Chihiro no longer felt in her own body.

Only a few steps away and Chihiro heard the gun cock. As if seeing the whole world around her, Chihiro dipped low, sweeping her leg as her hands grabbed for her swords. Her father was knocked back, falling hard against the packed dirt. Chihiro held the tips of her blades to his throat. The gun in his hand still had the safety on. She had switched it before handing it back, knowing it would buy her at least a few seconds warning if he chose to turn it on her.

He hadn't flicked it yet. The gun _hadn't_ been cocked to fire. But she heard it, she swore she heard it. Either way, Chihiro stared down the face of the man who raised her. He had been prepared to shoot her. Not kill, she was a prize he didn't want to destroy. At least, not completely.

"I'm giving you a chance," she reminded him coolly. "I won't do it again."

Chihiro withdrew her blades from her father's throat and turned back around.

It wasn't that Chihiro hadn't done bad things before. She had been raised by a mob boss, she worked for a different one. Her skills with her double blades and a gun were enough to warrant her a position of "security" as they were want to call it. Chihiro had hurt people at her boss's command. Chihiro had killed, even. But never an execution.

Never someone she knew.

Perhaps it would be better for her in the long run to get rid of the infection at the source. Her father would do well to die. But even now she didn't want to cross that line. It was near arbitrary, considering all the lines she'd willfully crossed in her life. Still, it was a line, and if she didn't find principles now, Chihiro feared she could be no better than the scum that she left on the ground behind her.

He didn't come after her again as she walked back up the mountain, but Chihiro wasn't deluded enough to believe he would stay away forever.

When she reached the last step, Chihiro looked up to see Hiei waiting for her. He sat in plain sight on the porch railing, not hidden in one of the trees or the on the rooftop as he usually was.

"You let him live," Hiei said. "I don't know if it's because you're too stupid or too arrogant, but troubles like that don't just wither away."

"If he comes after me, I'll defend myself," Chihiro said. "I'm not just going to shoot the man."

"You humans are all weak. I always look at the big picture and don't let anything get in my way."

Chihiro rolled her eyes as she neared the demon. "I bet that's true. Let me do things my own way, though. Human as it may seem." She made to pass Hiei into the temple but he reached out to grab her arm, too fast for her to dodge. Her protest died in her throat when she caught the expression of his blood red eyes.

"You don't deserve this, and I don't say that to be sympathetic," Hiei sneered. "You are smart and capable by human standards but you have done _nothing_ to earn your spot among my kind."

"I'm used to being a disappointment," Chihiro scoffed. "What do you really want to say to me?"

Hiei dropped her arm but jerked his head as a motion to follow. Then he jumped. His movements were almost too fast for her to track, but Chihiro was able to find him off to the left in the trees. She groaned and raced after him.

"I'm not here for your dramatics, Hiei," Chihiro called out as she raced to catch up.

He lead her through the trees, down the opposite side of the mountain until they came to a clearing with a small pond. The water was muddied and dark, but reflected the sky and trees like a shimmer of something kinder than this forest usually offered.

"There are weak demons," Hiei said, landing softly beside her. "Scum, no better than insects. Petty beasts even you could destroy. I'm not so foolish to believe all demons are worth their weight. But you have been granted a power that is coveted by my kind. You weren't turned into some mindless puppet of a demon. _That_ I could forgive. _That_ would mean you could be used at the very least. But no, you have your thoughts, your will, and your stupid sense of compassion."

Chihiro watched their reflections. "You can't tell me you don't have compassion, Hiei. I've seen you with your sister."

"I'm strong enough I can afford it. You're not."

"So, are you finally going to train me then? Do as you were told instead of how you please?" It was a rude challenge, but Chihiro was tired of his attitude.

In one fluid motion, Hiei pulled off his cloak and shirt. Before she could get any words out, his skin began to change. He reached for the band that he often wore around his forehead and dropped it with the rest of his discarded clothes.

Under the early afternoon sun, Hiei's skin turned green like the moss that grew around the pond. Cracks in his skin peeled apart to reveal eyes like glassy lilacs. They graced his shoulders and arms and torso like badges, following her movement with a hazy focus. The one on his forehead, however, glowed with an intensity and intelligence beyond the rest.

"This is your… true form?" Chihiro asked, unsure how to phrase the question.

Hiei spat out air in a derisive _tsk_. "It is an altered form, one I was not born with. I desired strength, so I took it." He locked eyes with her in a meaningful way and Chihiro understood more about the pain that went into obtaining that third eye than she had ever wished to learn. "After I obtained this eye, my strength depleted to the point that this became my strongest form. A mirage of a true Jaganshi."

The eyes closed and the green faded. Chihiro bit her lip and looked away. "So what?"

"My true power is far greater than that now. Far greater than it had been before I got the implant. The point is, the Jagan is a tool. You have a whole arsenal under your skin. I went through years of training to be strong enough to open just one eye, and years more to master it. I can only teach you if you're willing to push yourself to breaking. I don't believe you have that in you."

Chihiro focused her gaze on the pond. "If you really believed that, you wouldn't be here explaining it to me," she said.

"I cannot and will not train someone who is afraid to break."

"How am I supposed to break more than I already am, Hiei!" Chihiro snapped, a sudden rush of emotion ripping through her chest. "You piss me off so much. You don't give a _shit_ about me? Fine. I don't care. I don't need you to. But don't fucking judge me when you don't know what I've been through."

"I've seen your memories," he said.

"How much of them?" she countered, turning back on him. Hiei stood there, redressed in his shirt and cloak. He was so still like a statue, and yet Chihiro knew he could disappear as easily as the wind. "Did you look past what you needed to get into my apartment? How much do you know about my father? My childhood? The things I've done. The things done to me? What the fuck do you know?"

"I know you fear him and you've let that fear rule your actions even for all the years he was locked away. That's enough for me to know you're weak." Hiei turned from her at that, slowly walking into the thick of the forest. "I'll train you, if you ever decide to get serious. Until then, I'm better off training myself."

"Do you know what heroin is?"

Hiei's feet still just before he would have jumped to disappear into the trees. He looked over his shoulder at her. "One of your human drugs."

Chihiro nodded. She couldn't stomach talking about this. Even Kaisei didn't bring it up now that she was sober. "I was ten when my father decided his daughter would be more useful as a product tester. I may not have been thrown off a fucking mountain, but my father gave me drugs to turn me into his puppet, make me reliant on him more than a child is already reliant on their parents, and nearly killed me."

"And?"

"And!?" Chihiro let out a loud sound of disbelief. "And what?"

"You're not making any arguments, you're only complaining about your past. I don't care that that man ruined your precious childhood. I would only care if you then chose to do something about it. Which you don't. Stop wasting my time."

Hiei did not stall this time before disappearing into the woods.

Chihiro screamed, letting go of the rage and fear and fury she had pent up upon seeing her father. She knelt over the pond's edge and stared back at a reflection she barely recognized. In the years since her father was in prison, Chihiro had gotten clean, finished high school, and worked for a new boss. By all accounts, she was accomplished.

By all accounts, she hadn't done anything.

Kaisei had been trying for years to get her away from the mob scene, but she had always insisted on staying, afraid of what it meant to be in a world she didn't understand. For how terrible the yakuza were, it was a corruption she understood.

She was loathed to admit it, but Hiei was right. She hadn't been living a life, the way he accused when she tried to leave the complex. She had been running away, again. Finding comfort in familiarity and refusing to let herself be better than what her father made her.

And now here she was with the biggest reset button that could ever fall into her lap. She didn't have to be her old self anymore. She _couldn't_ be her old self anymore. Her pathetic excuse of a life was like a bad dream , which was saying something as she now stepped into the world of monsters and demons.

Chihiro stared at the reflection on the pond and watched the way the sky would ripple. Except it wasn't, at the same time. Almost as if she were seeing the sky itself and not the pond that was unsteady in it's interpretation of the world. Chihiro blinked and she saw the sky.

Something clenched deep in the pit of her stomach. Carefully, oh so carefully, she raised her hand and held it up to the back of her neck. Her palm waved in front of her vision.

"Well, fuck," she whispered and tried her hardest not to pass out.

* * *

The door opened to the back room with a creak, a strip of light spilling in from the hallway. When Ryuoku flicked on the switch, Fubuki had the pleasure of watching him nearly fall over, her presence startling him so badly. She sat in his chair, feet up on his desk. She didn't flinch when he pulled a gun on her.

In mocking copy, Fubuki drew up her forefinger like a gun. "Mine's stronger, so don't start."

"How did you get in here?" he asked, gruffly.

"I'm looking into the Eye of Solomon. I heard you were the last to have it."

Ryuoku called out into the hall for his men, but this didn't sway Fubuki. She already knew he didn't have possession of the artifact. It truly disappeared in the fray that night. The club had been scoured top to bottom by the mob boss. Fubuki was aware that he believed Chihiro had taken it. She also knew this wasn't the case.

"Who did you purchase it from?" she asked. "Where did you learn about it."

"You pompous little girl," he sneered. "You really think I'll answer your questions?"

Fubuki summoned some of her energy and shot it off, the blast landing next to his head. "I've got more bullets than you do," she informed the boss. The man was shaking, eyes wide. Fubuki smirked. It always felt good to remind criminals like this they weren't at the top of the food chain. "Now I'll ask again. Where did you get it?"

Ryuoku called for his men again, real fear in his voice this time. It was curious they hadn't come running the first time he yelled, or that the blast hadn't summoned hundreds of thundering footsteps. Fubuki frowned.

"Hurry now, before I get impatient," she threatened, building another small ball of energy. It would be hardly enough to bruise, but showy enough to get what she wanted.

"I'm curious myself," a new voice said from the hallway, deep and confident, the voice of someone used to talking others into submission.

Ryuoku sneered and turned his back to Fubuki to peer into the hallway. This new voice was a recognized threat, one more dangerous to the mob boss that Fubuki, apparently. The man who joined them was flanked by a few grunts. He stared at Fubuki, who had pulled back her energy, then at Ryuoku.

"I have seen some strange things today," he said. "Things my informants trace back to you, Ryu-kun."

"Naya," Ryuoku spat. "You're not welcome here."

Naya's smile was slick, humored by Ryuoku's words. "Forgive me, Ryu-kun. I did not properly thank you for taking care of my daughter over all these years. My men in your numbers tell me you did a good job of keeping her safe."

Ryuoku's face was boiling with rage. The slick smile dropped off Naya's face and his eyes hardened like steel.

"But I also learned you tried to kill her. Over a trinket?"

"As fascinating as this is," Fubuki said, slipping her legs from the desk and standing. She rounded the desk with calculated movements. Both of these men were mere humans, but guns still did damage. "I don't care about your petty squabbles. I have an organization bigger than you both to track down. If you'd like me to take care of you first, it would be my pleasure. Or I could let you both walk out of here with an answer as to where the artifact came from."

There was a moment of silence before Naya asked of the other mob boss, "What's got you so spooked about a child?"

Fubuki smirked. She was going to enjoy this interrogation.


	9. Fuel the Fire

_Hiei of the Thousand Eyes_

Chapter Nine: Fuel the Fire

* * *

It had taken Chihiro a long time to come back to the temple after Hiei showed her his Jaganshi form. She had sat at the edge of the pond, tracking the world around her. Literally. With one eye being lower than the others, and no fourth eye to create a more balanced sense of depth for what was behind her, the fractal images made her dizzy. She threw up twice on the hike back.

Now that she had opened it, Chihiro couldn't get the eye on the back of her neck to close. When she tried to sleep, it stared into the darkness, seeing more clearly than the little strip of starlight through her window should have let her. Eventually Chihiro rummaged through her things to find a scarf and suffered through almost choking herself in her sleep just in order to get some shut eye.

Her hair was up in a top-knot, but loose strands kept slipping out and obstructing her vision. She mused with just chopping it all off. The hair was a hassle. It was hard enough to get used to the 360 degree vision.

"Jesus fucking _Christ_ ," she cursed, having walked into yet another table. Who would have thought gaining extra sight would be just as bad as going blind? Her spatial awareness was all fucked up and she would sometimes forget which way was forward.

Having been stuck in the forest the day before, too dizzy to walk, gave her plenty of time to think over what Hiei had said. He couldn't train someone who wasn't willing to break. Perhaps she was only giving excuses at this point. The real question was, in the end, what was it that she _wanted_.

Chihiro couldn't be cooped up at the temple forever. And, if she was being honest with herself, if she and Hiei had anything in common, it would be their distaste for humanity. Chihiro had grown up around the worst of them, crime lords who didn't care how many people they felled for their own gain. She had spent so much of her life in a drugged haze that the only interests she had ever developed were in keeping safe. Chihiro didn't want to run anymore. She didn't want to need a babysitter. She wanted to figure out what she wanted. She wanted that choice, that luxury, to learn who she was underneath the fear and trauma.

She wanted her freedom.

It didn't take long for Chihiro to find Hiei. The demon was in a clearing down the west side of the mountain, pushing himself in ways that made Chihiro's non-beating heart race. So fast. So strong. Hiei sparred against his own summoned creation, a beast of fire and darkness. The power emanating from the demon was numbing.

Hiei called his own match, the black dragon receding into his palm until an imprint of the beast twisted around his arm. He looked her way, eyes sharp and pointed eye-teeth bared. "You figure it out yet?" Hiei snapped.

Chihiro touched the back of her neck, around the new eye that watched the temple behind her. "I'm not a good person," she told him. "I don't have some altruistic reason to get stronger. The only person I want to protect is myself. And if I'm a target because of these stupid eyes that are going to start sprouting on my body like goddamned pimples, I want to be able to kill everyone that comes after me."

Hiei smirked. "I think I can work with that."

In less time than a second, Hiei raced forward with a fist raced. Training, _real_ training, had begun.

* * *

Kaisei burst into his sister's apartment, drenched in rain and tracking his muddy shoes all the way into her living room. He ignored her protest of his "rude behavior" and the demand to clean up after himself.

"You went to the _yakuza_ ," he snapped, snagging one of her dish towels to run through his hair. "You went and threatened the local bosses. What the fuck, Fubuki."

"I'm doing my job," she scoffed, crossing her arms indignantly. "And I'm doing it great, thank you very much. I have leads now."

"You beat up humans when it wasn't your job to do so," he pushed. This is why he left. She always took things too far. "And now the White Fang and Blue Fin gangs are joining forces because of you. They're coming together. Do you _get_ what that means? Do you even care."

"I _care_ about the fact spirit world artifacts are falling into greedy human hands," she snapped, pushing him back to the main hall to help contain the mess. "There's a new Black Book Club in Japan and I can't bank on a demon killing them all of at the Dark Tournament like my predecessor was able to." Fubuki stomped off to her bedroom only to come back with a few old towels she threw onto the wet floors.

"You're making things _worse_ ," Kaisei hissed. "These were small time compared to the Black Book fucks. Dangerous criminals, but _clueless_ to the other worlds."

"Clueless doesn't lead your friend's boss to an artifact that turns humans into demons," Fubuki protested, using her foot to push around the towels. "Do you even know what I learned?"

"Tell me."

Fubuki stared at her brother, mouth pinched in an untrusting scowl. The rainwater dripped off his hair and jacket. He'd looked like a drowned rat if it weren't for the gleam in his eye. That was the look of a feral animal, ready to attack if pushed too far. She sighed, her shoulders dropping. They always had to fight.

"Ryuoku Mitsuru was sold the Solomon's Eye by one of the prominent members of the Club. He sold it to an idiot on purpose. Whoever Keiji is, they knew what they had. They were expecting Ryuoku to use it on himself, to turn into a demon, otherwise he wouldn't have explained the properties of the item so clearly. I think Keiji is planning something not unlike Sakyo. I mean, the barrier is down between worlds, but they're looking for more influence, more power. What's better than having a _demon_ yakuza boss under your thumb?"

Kaisei stared at his sister in abject horror. "You absolute idiot," he whispered. It was very likely her guess was correct. Fubuki always had a knack of prediction, sensitive to demonic energies in an almost computer analytic way. She could connect dots like no one else. But she couldn't see the forest for the trees, not when she was only interested in one path of it all. "Naya came to my work, Fubuki. My _work_. You put countless civilians in danger just because he knew we were related. _Worse_ ," he continued, when Fubuki looked to argue, "is that if those two gangs are working together, Naya must have put together by now what happened to Chihiro. We're trying to keep her safe and now two gangs and undoubtedly this mysterious benefactor you're chasing are all going to want to claim her as a prize." He took a deep breath. The scare of Naya showing up at the gym where Kaisei taught martial arts had been bad enough. He didn't like that guy, especially knowing everything he'd done to Chihiro over the years. But _this_. Chihiro would be in more danger than before.

"There's not going to be a single safe place for her. And that's all on you," he said, flipping his hood back up. He'd have to go talk to Koenma himself.

* * *

Chihiro crashed into a chair and cursed loud enough that Hiko started wailing in the other room.

"Are you going to stumble around like one of the infants all day or are you going to train?" Hiei asked with the barest hint of a grin on his lips. He was enjoying seeing her suffer.

Chihiro could hear the thunder before it crashed, jumping at the echo of sound. She wasn't _really_ hearing anything, but sometimes it felt like she had. Like déjà vu. Not everything was repeated, either. Thank god. But sometimes things that could give her the slightest bit of warning came through before reality. The crash of thunder, a sliding door, the click of her father's gun out by the shire. Only when whatever was to come next was… unpleasant.

It wasn't until Chihiro had tried to shower after sparring with Hiei that she noticed the eye on her neck wasn't the only one to have opened. They were small, no bigger than a single yen, tucked at the base of her ears. She could see them clearly with her new neck-eye.

Her third eye wasn't like Hiei's. His was a psychic host of multiple powers. All hers could do was see what was happening behind her. Her little ear-eyes didn't _see_ anything, though, despite being eyes. They had been what let her sometimes hear a few seconds into the future, just enough time to react.

"It's raining," Chihiro commented as thunder crashed again. "I was heading to the dojo."

"If you can't handle nature, then you're not taking this seriously," he huffed before zipping out into the overcast forest.

Chihiro cursed under her breath and went to find her rain coat. It didn't take her long to find Hiei despite the downpour. Even with the rain blurring her vision, something pulled her eye towards where the other demon was perched in the tree branches.

"You're too slow," he told her.

"Not all of us are speed demons."

In a flash of lightning, Hiei stepped behind her, blade drawn. "Speed is a learned trait," he told her. "Some are more skilled than others, but most demons of my level can move at my pace. There is no point in your powers of prediction if you cannot act on them. Learn to act on them."

She was able to draw her blade just in time to block his attack, but Hiei did not slow down. Catching him once was a challenge. Catching his entire barrage was impossible. And he was going easy on her.

Hours later, when they returned to the temple, Chihiro felt as if Hiei had made good on his threat to simply cut her open where an eye might be hidden. Kuwabara leapt to his feet when he saw her, blood and rain mixing together to create rivulets of red all down her person and onto the ground.

"Chi-chan!" he shouted, frantically grabbing at the medical supplies they kept near the front door.

"Don't call me that," Chihiro spat. It wasn't the first time Kuwabara had tried to use a nickname and it was getting on her nerves. The only person who had ever gotten away with calling her by simply 'Chi' was Kaisei, and even he used that sparingly as it often pissed her off.

"You're all busted up again," he chided.

"I'll be fine." She had been healing much faster recently. The wounds hurt, but they were temporary. It was unnerving to see how quickly her skin stitched back together now, but it meant survival. Chihiro was learning to be thankful for this shift in personhood. "Just give me the gauze wrap and I'll take care of it myself."

"Hiei, how could you be so cruel to our guest?"

Hiei huffed, barely acknowledging Kuwabara's presence. "She's not a guest, she's a pupil. This is no different than how Genkai trained Yusuke."

"Yeah, but she's a woman!" Kuwabara protested.

"Oh, go suck a dick, Kuwabara."

"Aptly put," Hiei agreed. "Meet back in an hour. You still have more to do today." He disappeared deeper into the temple

Kuwabara looked scandalized at both of them.

"Listen," Chihiro pushed, stripping out of her ruined rain coat, "I know you have some code of honor, and that's great for you, but don't apply it to me when I don't want it to, okay? You're not involved in my training, stop complaining that it's not what you'd like to see."

Kuwabara scratched at his cheek bashfully. "It's not that I don't think you're strong or anything. If Hiei respects ya, you gotta be good, right?" Chihiro startled at that. Respect? What about Hiei made Kuwabara think he _respected_ her. "And I know you're tough. I can see it in your eyes. It's just," he shrugged. "I don't like seeing you hurt, ya know?"

Chihiro sighed, deep and mournfully. Kuwabara's earnestness was going to be the death of her. "Yeah, I get it," she said, "but seriously, stop. And stop with the nick names, okay? I hate them."

He looked dejected, but Chihiro was able to wrap up the worst of her cuts and brush past him without further complaint.

She reached her room and changed, cleaning up the smaller cuts in the process.

After a quick meal, Chihiro found Hiei in the dojo. "What's the torture tonight?" she asked. He was coming up with ways to challenge her mental fortitude and hopefully shake out some more eyeballs hiding in her system.

Hiei was quiet for a while, which was surprisingly… surprising. Hiei was a little shit when he wanted to be and talked more often than his _leave me alone_ attitude would have you believe. When Chihiro looked back to her broody tutor, she found him pensively staring through her, as if she weren't even there.

"What?" she demanded, creeped out.

His eyes focused back onto her and he frowned. Hiei was _thinking_. This couldn't be good.

"Your father. What did he say to you?"

Chihiro instinctively tensed, preparing to run as if she could out pace the other demon. "Why?"

He was unapologetic, like always, with his red eyed stare. Chihiro would never be granted tact or consideration from Hiei. She didn't mind it, though. He never lied, either, or avoided telling her things she might not have wanted to hear.

"You once said all you wanted was to be one step ahead of your father. The eyes that opened first aided you for that. But you knew he was lying. You've had a knack for that, and I'm assuming it came with the change. It could be the power of another eye preparing to open."

Chihiro shrugged. "Possibly. But why do you need to know what he told me?"

"When he whispered to you, that was the only time I had ever seen you truly afraid. Either we crush your fear or use it as fuel. Either way, if I know you'll be easier to train."

Chihiro crossed her arms over her chest. She hated thinking about her father. His crooked grin was full of rotten teeth and rancid breath. And yet he had a silver tongue. It was how he gained his small empire, his loyal followers and pocketed government officials. She hated everything he was and everything he stood for. She hated what she had become because of him. Of all the things she could put behind her, this one would haunt her until her last breath, be that tomorrow or a thousand years from now.

He had been too close to her too often. Those words would be the last time he could close enough to touch her. That lie would be the closest he came to it being a truth.

She swallowed her pride and spoke.

* * *

The knock at the door could barely be heard of the thunder. Ittoku was hiding under a blanket on the living room couch, and Shizuru was indulging it. He was still young and storms were still scary.

The visitor's face was obstructed by an obscenely large umbrella, but Shizuru knew her friend instantly.

"Come on in, Botan. Let me get you a towel."

"Oh! Thank you," she cheered, a bounce in her step despite the weather. She shook out her umbrella before collapsing it and stepping out of her rain boots. "Is Kurama home?"

"Not yet," Shizuru said, coming back with a pair of house slippers and a bath towel. "Do you want some tea?"

"Oh, yes please!"

Ittoku joined them at the kitchen table, eating a melon pan before bed while the grown ups had their tea. Shizuru caught Botan up on how her salon was, and Kurama's work, and Ittoku's grades. They were contemplating having him skip a year because of how quickly he learned.

"That's wonderfull, Ittoku!" Botan cheered. "You're a little genius, just like your parents."

"I wouldn't call me a genius," Shizuru laughed softly.

"Oh, nonsense. You're a brilliant business woman!"

Shizuru thanked her friend before sending Ittoku to bed. It was getting late and he wouldn't be able to stay up and see his dad tonight. The storm had quieted to nothing but a soft patter by the time Kurama arrived. His eyes steeled when he spotted Botan.

"Let me go see my son, I'll be right back." Ittoku was already asleep, but Kurama still wished to kiss his forhead and check on him first thing when he came home late.

The three of them settled around the kitchen table with Kurama's late dinner and a fresh brew of tea. "What's the news from the reikai?" Kurama asked.

"As requested," Botan hedged, "I've come to update you on the case." The ferry girl nervously twisted her ponytail before pulling a file out of seemingly nowhere. "I've detailed a report for you, but simply put, things are getting… bigger than we anticipated."

Kurama frowned. He didn't like how that sounded. He took the file Botan brought, ignoring his food. Shizuru took the papers out of his hand and pointed to his dish. He submitted to his wife's command to eat with a tired smile as Shizuru prompted Botan to explain the situation further.

"Fubuki has discovered a thread from Chihiro's old yakuza boss to a new group of elites who have created a Black Book Club, not unlike the one Yusuke once helped dismantle. The trouble is, much to Fubuki's anger, we can't go after them."

"Why not?" Shizuru asked, pouring another cup of tea for herself.

"Well, while what they are doing _is_ illegal, it's not reikai jurisdiction. They may have a few artifacts that were created in either the spirit or demon realm, but we have no inventory or proof. Nor are they kidnapping demons for their own gain. Employing and trading with demons, yes, but nothing we can go after."

"So, this new club," Kurama prompted, "is seeking to span their power across barriers and have a hand in the demon markets, not just the human ones."

Botan nodded. "But, you see, there's nothing illegal about trading with demons, so long as they haven't stolen from _us_."

Shizuru shook her head. "That hot head detective of yours must be pissed."

Botan nodded vigorously. "Yes. I stopped to tell her all this before coming here. It's amazing that she's almost more reckless than Yusuke simply because she _wants_ to go on her assignments."

"What about the girl?" Kurama asked. "Naya Chihiro?"

"Yes, well, she…" Botan trailed off, elongating the last word as she figured out how to phrase her thoughts. "She is a complication. From what I gathered, her transition into a demon has begun manifesting more. But also, her father knows where she is. And as he's tied in with the yakuza and the still missing Eye of Solomon and the people running the Black Book Club…" her hands flailed about as she attempted to tie her rambling together.

"It's possible the Black Book Club will be looking to recruit the kid in some way," Shizuru mused.

Botan nodded. "Word of what she is will get out eventually. Kaisei is most worried about her welfare now that her father's aware of where she is. You and your family are far enough removed from the situation that nothing is likely to fall back on you unless you choose to involve yourself. Keep a low profile, don't use your demon powers, and this will all blow over without much fuss."

"Did you hear that, Kurama," Shizuru said, nudging her husband's arm. "Stay out of it."

Kurama nodded with a wry smile. "I'll try." His expression dropped as he put the matter to deeper thought. He didn't like where this turn in events could lead. He'd have to look over Botan's files more, but he was already considering ways to further protect his family from this shadow organization.

If a human group managed to gain power and access in the makai, then any demon living among the humans risked the peace of their mundane life. It had the potential to be just as bad as demons abducting humans for their own slave trade. Worse, because with the new treaty in place per the Demon World Tournament, the spirit world would have their hands tied to stop things should it get dire.

"Thank you, Botan, for keeping us informed," Kurama said, standing to gay goodbye. "It is most helpful."

When Kurama and Shizuru were finally alone, she asked him what they were going to do.

"We follow your lead, and stay calm and out of trouble," he said before kissing Shizuru's forehead, much like he had their son earlier in the night.

* * *

Kaisei sat in his bed, eyes wide open and mind racing. He hadn't gotten in to see Koenma, but was able to pass off his complaints to Botan at least. He just hoped they would be listened to. Chihiro was his best friend, as she was a sitting duck as the pot boiled out here for her.

He pushed out of bed, listening to the silence of the dead of night, the storm over and the earth eerily quiet. Kaisei paced back and forth in his tiny apartment. He couldn't stop thinking about what Fubuki had done. About the Black Book Club and the newly formed Blue Fang group. About the fact that Chihiro's heart didn't beat anymore. About the lengths his sister always took when facing an opponent.

The floorboard under his bed was hard to get at, which made it an excellent hiding place. He checked it one more time, hoping it would settle his nerves. There, under his bed, inside a hole hidden by the cracked wood, was the golden crystal eye Chihiro had dropped at the night club.

* * *

 **A/N: I reposted all the chapters with a FIXED timeline. I _knew_ there was something wrong with what I had done before and I finally figured it out and adjusted the ages accordingly. Sorry for any confusion. **


	10. Revelations

_Hiei of the Thousand Eyes_

Chapter Ten: Revelations

* * *

Hiei couldn't look at Chihiro the same way now that he knew her secret. It was neither good nor bad, but fundamentally changed. Hiei had even dismissed her early instead of training because he couldn't wrap his head around all the information that quickly.

"This doesn't leave this room," Chihiro had insisted. "You can't tell anyone."

Hiei had scoffed. "Who am I to tell?"

It was enough to satisfy her, if barely. She showed the same wild fear in her eye as she had speaking with her father, something more wretched and desperate than when she faced demons in the makai, not even know what they were. Chihiro took a deep, shaky breath and turned her head. She cursed under her breath when her third eye caught him in the side of her vision. She couldn't look away even when she tried.

"He said he had my kid."

"Your what?" Hiei physically recoiled from the comment. He thought she was still young for a human. Certainly, younger than the oaf or Kurama's wife. And he had seen the way she looked at Hiko and Kazuyo. It wasn't the look of a mother.

She hunched further onto herself as if trying to hide behind her own crossed arms. "I was fifteen. So, he would be seven now."

Older than Kurama's brat, even.

"Kaisei helped me detox, and then after I gave birth I made Kaisei bring it to a hospital, claiming he found it. If they did a DNA test, Kaisei wouldn't be marked as the father and it would go into the foster system without any paper trail leading back to me. Because I couldn't – " her breath hitched and Hiei realized Chihiro was crying. Hiei had only seen the girl tear up due to excessive pain, and even then, she hadn't _cried_. "I couldn't let that kid near my father. I didn't want him ever to be able to come looking and find out what his mother – who I am."

"Why didn't you simply get rid of it, if you weren't going to raise it yourself?" Hiei asked, knowing what it was like to be tossed aside, growing up among strangers. He wasn't sure which cursed fate would be worse for the child.

Chihiro whipped her head around and stared, wide eyed, at him. Her lip trembled. "I was going to," she admitted, her hardened shell shattering. "I don't even know who the father is. I wanted it _gone_ but I couldn't. And I was so afraid I had already fucked it up with all the drugs in my system. And I still had it. I still. I still had him."

Chihiro wiped at her face and rolled her shoulders back, building back up her walls of anger as she tried to look away again. "I got pregnant, I got my father arrested so I could have the chance to run, and I had to seek refuge with another gang. Only a few of them even knew about it. I hid away while I was showing. He still found out. But my father didn't know it was a boy. He just said, I have your child. He didn't know. No one knew. Only me and Kaisei." She eyed him with a frown. "And now you."

She wiped at her face again and took a steadying breath. The rain outside was starting to die down. Hiei didn't know what to say.

When she was still human, and no barrier around her memories, Hiei had skimmed enough to learn where she lived. He'd seen perhaps two years worth of her life, disjointed and mundane. It was enough to show that her life wasn't eventful or what she wanted, but he hadn't expected anything so pivotal to have been lurking deeper in her past.

"You're a mother," he said, at a loss for anything else.

"No," she insisted. "I just had a kid."

Hiei tried to remember his life at a mere fifteen. He supposed that was around the time the bandits he had been raised by shunned him from their holding. He was a wild thing, unfit for caring for others and brimming with bloodlust. The women of his kind had children once every hundred years. A human life cycle was much shorter, of course. Hiei tried to think of Kuwabara having a child around the time Hiei first joined Mukuro in the makai. It was a horrifying thought. He had to admit that – as short the years were compared to Hiei's full life span – Kuwabara had grown up enough that being a father wasn't a hardship. Begrudgingly, the proof showed the buffoon was actually quite good at it.

But for a woman, a girl, to carry the weight of an unborn child that young?

"Go," he told her. "You won't be able to concentrate on anything in your current state."

Before Chihiro could respond, Hiei sped away, this new revelation clouding his mind.

Now that the sun was rising, he still wasn't sure his stance on the matter. He supposed he didn't need one. Still, the fact that this bullheaded human – not human, he reminded himself – had her own kin… A son, whom she abandoned. It made something deep inside him twist darkly.

He'd spent the night sitting on the roof, staring out over the swamp. He watched the lost shimmers of souls from an age-old battlefield while he battled the memories of his own childhood. Being abandoned by his people was something Hiei had come to terms with fully during his fight against Mukuro in the first Makai Tournament. His own mother hadn't been the one to toss him off the cliff's edge, however.

Hiei was hard and callous, he did not like most people and hated even more. Yet, when he had demanded the Jagan implant from Shigure, the story he had to share was of how _vile_ he found the behavior of the koorime. Then, when he found them again seeking to destroy them, their cold hearts had shown Hiei that they were already as good as dead. Even for a demon, there was no life without the capability of love.

The worst of human kind had once been a simple tape held in his fingers. Meanwhile, despite her heritage, Yukina was one of the most pure beings he'd ever known. While demons were far superior in strength, it was always an ungentle reminder that both races were capable of good and bad.

As the orange glow of daybreak crested over the mountain's forest, Hiei had settled his confusion.

"Are you going to come in for breakfast, or shall I have Kazuma bring a plate up for you?" Yukina's soft voice called out from below. He had heard her bustling around for the last hour or so, but her voice still shook him from his reverie.

Hiei leapt to the porch steps and trotted silently past his sister. He paused only to look at the small thing harnessed to Yukina's chest. Hiko, the boy. He looked into the babe's eyes for a moment and then continued on his way. "I'll eat later." The night had been long and without sleep. He would need a few hours rest before resuming training with his charge.

* * *

Keiji signed off on another document, handing it to his assistant so crisply that the paper made a whipping noise as it sliced through the air. Ryuoku was still rambling his case on the video monitor. The small time mob boss was a failure of an experiment. First he breaks the jewel that would grant him powers, then one of his henchmen steals the energy inside, and then he lost the Eye of Solomon all together.

What a waste of the inheritance his youngest brother had left him.

"It's his daughter," Ryuoku continued, "so he wants in."

"Do you know why I sold you that artifact, Ryuoku?" Keiji asked, not looking up from his business papers. He continued before the fool could speak up. "You're a pawn. A pawn with influence among the streets. A pawn that came with many more pawns." Keiji set his pen down and weaved his fingers together before finally giving Ryuoku his full attention. "If your mistake brings me a whole second clan of yakuza, then by all means."

Keiji found that yakuza liked to think they were the smartest in the room. The most powerful, even knowing they answered to others. Ryuoku and this Naya of the Blue Fins were both small time bosses, compared to Keiji's own seat. Even when told straight to their face that they were nothing but pawns, they had a resilience, a pride that made then even easier to manipulate. It was humorous to watch Ryuoku's face contort with suppressed rage. He knew he had messed up, he knew he needed help, and yet here he was, offended that he was being looked down upon.

"Now, in regards to this Naya Chihiro," Keiji contemplated all the information Ryuoku had given him. A stray agent had gained the power of the Eye. They had pinpointed her location to a mountain temple that Keiji knew was under protection. It would be a death sentence to chase her there. But this was not a race. Keiji had inherited more than his brother's money and collection of cursed and magicked artifacts. More than anyone, perhaps even more than Sakyo, Keiji knew how to play the long game. "This is what we're going to do."

* * *

At four years old, Ittoku was a spritely boy. While he was shy around strangers, Ittoku was still curious and adventurous, full of life and love and laughter. Kurama remembered the children he had been told to play with. They were mysterious creatures back then, ones Kurama hadn't been interested in trying to understand. Now he was so filled with thousands of emotions watching as his son dragged him into a roaring game of cops and robbers. Pride. Joy. Amazement. Wonder.

Being a father had changed Kurama. More than anything else, any choice he made, any battle he fought, and love he'd given, it was having Ittoku in his life that made Kurama whole again. Something settled in him as he watched his son live so freely. As Ittoku ducked around their small back yard, Kurama wondered what it said that of all children it was _his_ son that played make-believe as a thief evading capture.

There came a ring of their doorbell and Kurama scooped his son up, declaring the boy his prisoner and his only penance was a thousand hours of tickling! Ittoku screeched with a fearful delight and tried to wriggle away. Kurama let him go after sniffing out who was at the door. A few moments later Shizuru led Keiko into the backyard and Ittoku's rambunctiousness settled into something quieter, although he was still hyped up from playing.

Keiko placed one hand delicately over her chest. "Oh, he's grown so much." She smiled at Ittoku sweetly, giving the boy a small wave, which Ittoku shyly returned. "Sorry to intrude," Keiko said, smiling at Kurama.

"Not at all," he gave her a light hug. "I hadn't realized you were back from your honeymoon."

Kekio's smile tightened as she scratched her cheek in a nervous habit. "Ah, yes. Just got back. I," she took in a deep breath, her doe like brown eyes straining against her deep emotions. "I haven't heard back from Yusuke. I know he saw the tape. I had hoped he would call."

It was clear to both Kurama and Shizuru that Keiko was still carrying her guilt of leaving Yusuke behind. She had wanted, for so long, to get the chance to talk to him. To explain herself in person so they could, perhaps, reconcile as they grew their separate ways.

"I'm afraid Yusuke didn't stay in the ningenkai for any length of time after seeing the video," Kurama told her. "He's out training for the next tournament. He told me he is taking it seriously this go around, but I believe he's using the training as an outlet for his emotions."

Keiko's lips thinned, and she nodded curtly.

"Come on," Shizuru said, leading Keiko back inside. "Let's get you some tea and you can tell me all about your honeymoon."

"I'll join you in a bit," he told them, turning his attention back on Ittoku. Kurama was able to still keep an ear on the conversation as he tried to tire the boy out before calling for bath time.

Keiko and her new husband were going to pack up her old apartment and move in together in Tokyo. It was a bit of a trek from Mushiyori, but not impossibly so. Sousuke was good for her, and Kurama was happy to hear the love in her voice despite the guilt and worry about Yusuke clouding her. In their own ways, they would always love each other, but at least one of them was truly moving on.

* * *

Yusuke stumbled out of the waterfall and breathed in the musty night air. The stench of decay was so powerful in the makai, he'd forgotten what his home town smelled like. There was something about the air here that made him feel stronger, like the bloodlust of other demons could be carried by the wind and expanded in his lungs. Never before had he given over so completely to his demon side. But, really, what was holding him back anymore?

The distant thought of Keiko stung the corners of his mind and he pushed it away. She was his childhood friend, his first love, and she would be nothing more. He'd lost his chance when his heart stopped for good, when he'd been too weak to defeat Sensui on his own.

The waterfall created a rippling reflection, distorted and disconnected. He could hardly recognize himself anymore. His hair hadn't grown out like a god dammed chia pet, but the markings of the mazoku didn't seem like cereal-box prize temporary tattoos anymore. They didn't seem like tattoos at all.

The first time Yusuke had seen the strange markings on his skin, they were like a foreign entity had crept its way into his body. Someone had painted him from the inside. The more he used his demonic powers, the more he accepted that _this is who he was_ , the less Yusuke could distinguish between it and _other_. He trailed his fingers along one of the marks that twisted around his forearm. It would have looked like a tan or a birth mark, if it weren't for how crisp the edges were.

There was no going back now. Whether he liked it or not, Yusuke was a demon. While some demons were happy to find a new life for themselves among the humans of the ningenkai, Yusuke couldn't make a home in a world where everyone he knew would age while he remained the same. He was going to learn what it meant to be a demon, since he no longer had a home with his childhood sweetheart who had grown up without him.

Yusuke called for Hokushin. He was ready to spar.

* * *

 **A/N: PLEASE READ, IMPORTANT READER INFORMATION**

 **Firstly, I adjusted the timeline a little bit. I knew something was wrong and I finally figured out where I miscalculated, so if you go back some of the ages etc have been changed.**

 **Lately I have found myself very unhappy with my writing of this story. I've been trying to push out chapters because I have so many thoughts and ideas but every time I look at what I have written it feels sloppy and rushed and disingenuous. I decided to publish this chapter regardless because I wanted to share the story, despite my dissatisfaction with the writing.**

 **I'm not abandoning this work, but I am putting it on the back burner for a bit. To help inspire me and get me back into the writing mindset, I've decided to rework my old Hiei fanfiction _In the Wake of What Follows._**

 **This rewrite will included some new content and a better ending because I've always been upset with how I half-assed and gave up on it. You can follow the republishing of it on my AO3 account {same username}. Once it's done, I'll replace the chapters on FFN for you all.**

 **Once I'm done rewriting _In the Wake of What Follows_ I'm going to rework the current chapters of _Hiei of the Thousand Eyes_ so that I can feel happy about what I'm giving you before continuing the story. I hope you all understand. This isn't something I had ever done before. I normally just try to keep writing and crank it out even when I'm frustrated, but I need to do this for me so I don't end up hating what I'm writing before I even got halfway into it.**

 **Thank you for your patience with me and for your viewership of my fiction.**

 **~A**


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